Speak Now
by petals-to-fish
Summary: When James Potter goes undercover as an Auror and is unable to be reached by anyone, his friends create a trap that ends with James' girlfriend Lily Evans standing at an altar in a white dress with a man that is most definitely not James. (jily AU)
1. Speak Now

_Prologue_

Fabian Prewett's hair was combed to perfection and Lily saw he proudly wore the checkered bowtie she'd bought him last week in Diagon Alley. Alice stood to Lily's right, ever the loyal Maid of Honor, carrying the bouquet of roses that Lily had been holding when she walked down the aisle only fifteen minutes before. It really was quite the lavish wedding (all things considered) but Fabian had promised and more than delivered. The church was beautiful and Lily's dress was covered in pearls befitting a Queen.

Despite all of this, Lily's eyes still kept flirting to all the doors in the church. She chewed her bottom lip as she took Fabian's hands. She could tell he was nervous too, as he was red around the cheekbones. Lily's white veil was still covering her face, keeping her eyes from giving away the real reason she stood at an altar with the wrong man.

Suddenly, she heard the preacher say, "Speak now or forever hold your peace."

Silence filled the hall.

She closed her eyes; _this was his last chance_.

Her heart was racing.

Her palms were sweaty and her hands were shaking.

Her wedding dress dug into her ribs making it harder to breathe.

And just when she thought she might pass out from all her pressing anxiety, a burst of cold air blew into the church via the double doors. The frigid winter chill hit Lily's face and she started, her hands ripping away from Fabian like she'd been burned because the man currently stumbling into the church was the reason she was at the altar in the first place.

" _James_."

There were horrified looks from everyone in the room, especially from Rita Skeeter in the front row with her offending quill. The Prewett's wicked Aunt Martha was covering her mouth in utter disbelief. Whispers broke out and an old woman swooned into her fan. Gideon Prewett grabbed his brother's shoulder as a (supposedly) dead man stood at the opposite end of the aisle with his black hair in messy curls to match the scraggly beard growing on his chin.

Lily could only look at him, despite the crowd, as she was afraid that he might be another daydream.

"Sorry everyone," James joked airily, voice cracking, "Did I miss the vows?"


	2. Last Kiss

**Chapter 2: Last Kiss**

 _James should've been there._

The Christmas lights glistened in the corner of her eyes as Lily ripped herself from the crowded sitting room and headed straight for the loo. She was suffocating under the fake smiles and ticking of the clocks. The loo door closed behind her and she collapsed against the counter, her fingers gripping the cold tile. Lily felt a tear slip from her eyelash as James' watch on her wrist ticked closer and closer to midnight.

Jams wasn't there and he should've been.

James should've opened up the door to her flat four hours prior and sung happy birthday in his awful soprano imitation.

She loved when he surprised her.

Sometimes he'd stay with her in her flat for months after surprising her by coming home. He never left her sight, even when pouring over secret notes and books on magical theory. Those were Lily's favorite times as James was often bored with bookish work and his attention would wander to her brewing potions on the kitchen table for work. He claimed she was at her prettiest when she was concentrated on a brilliant potion but half the time she was only focused on his hazel eyes, assessing her from across the room over the rims of his glasses.

She hated when he went away.

Sometimes he'd be gone for a few days. He'd appear on her doorstep at night with flowers and a new mix tape from her favorite muggle shop. Sometimes he was gone a few weeks, but he'd alway write her in his hasty scrawl and with added photos for her entertainment. Sometimes he was only gone a few hours but sometimes Lily felt like those hours dragged on because she didn't know where or what he was doing.

No matter what though, he always came back.

This time was different.

This time was serious.

She wasn't sure what he was doing, exactly, but she knew it was a big deal. She knew that this time, he'd kissed her goodbye like the world was going to end when he went away. He kissed her goodbye right were she was standing in the loo after he'd had his way with her for over two hours in the dark bedroom. She knew that, for the first time in a long time, James had been scared to leave her. He hadn't shown so much resistance but the war was over and peace was _supposed_ to be settling over the community.

Lily didn't feel very peaceful.

James had been gone for six months, two days, and three hours. Lily stared at the calendar on the wall and sighed as her eyes traced over the words "Lily's 22nd" written in his messy scrawl. She had hoped and now she felt foolish. It had been six months, two days, and three hours since she'd felt his hands at her waist. Six months, two days, and three hours since her lips had met his in the middle of a laugh. Six months, two days, and three long hours since he'd lit up her world with his smile.

Outside of the shelter of Lily's four loo walls were the party guests, there to celebrate her birthday. They'd all been asking her how she'd been holding up without her boyfriend. It was no secret he was on a mission after all, plenty of people know James was a investigative auror. He'd wanted to be an auror as long as Lily had known him. When she'd started dating James she knew the road would be long due to his career but she also knew James was worth the long nights and lonely days.

She also knew that he had to keep secrets...it came with the territory...but that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less. Aurors were expected to keep their work lives private in order to maintain their missions; as far as Lily was concerned, James' mission was going great.

She just couldn't help feeling particularly worried.

She wanted to be alone but somehow, Sirius already knew where she was. She heard his insistent knocking at the door. She heard the pain in Sirius' voice, begging her to come out for a bit of cake. She opened the door a crack so Sirius could see the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. The circles under Sirius' eyes darkened when he spotted the look upon her face—the look of someone trying hard to not fall apart.

"He's not here." she said hopelessly and the tears spilled down her cheeks and onto her pretty dress.

"Are you ready for cake and s—"

Another person rounded the corner, Remus noted the tears spilling down her face and he stopped mid sentence, looking full of pity, "Oh, Lily."

A sob wretched through her chest in reaction to the pity in Remus' voice. She collapsed onto the floor as the clock her mother had bought her chimed midnight. The party guests all cheered and Lily heard wine glasses being clinked together. Her legs curled into her and her arms shook as she realized James wasn't coming to her party. He hadn't missed her birthday in over _eight_ years. He'd always wanted to be the first to say happy birthday. He'd always wanted to be the first to pass her a meticulously wrapped birthday gift. He'd always been there for her in the most important moments—work be damned.

It was so unlike him.

It was so out of character for him.

It was tearing her apart.

Sirius and Remus tried to calm Lily down. They at least managed to stem the flow of tears from her green eyes by letting her cry into their shoulders. They held her as she stared through the dark hallway where light was streaming from the sitting room where her birthday party was winding down.

"Why didn't he come?" she managed in a low whisper, "Why _wouldn't_ he come?"

Sirius' jaw was pressed, "I don't know."

Lily didn't miss the stare passed between James' best mates. They were just as disappointed and as surprised as she was. If there was one thing they all could count on, it was James' need to be there for his friends and family on their birthdays. When James had missed Sirius' birthday in November they'd attributed it to the fact that Sirius had told James not to bother trying to show, he was only going to have a drink or two with Lily and Remus.

 _But Lily's birthday._

It was like a canary in a coal mine. It was like a alarm going off before it was time to wake up. It was a chilling reminder that Lily could lose James and he could never come to another birthday. James could've been dead already for all that Lily knew. When James had first left, she'd at least gotten little secret messages from her friend Alice or the other Aurors.

No matter what, James always made sure Lily knew he was alive. She'd kept every letter he'd sent her; they were tucked away in a box by her bed. She read them aloud to herself when she felt cold and alone in the middle of the night. Then four months turned into six and Lily hadn't gotten even a single worded parchment.

"It'll be okay Lily." Sirius told Lily comfortingly from the floor of the dark hallway.

He didn't sound very convinced and she was unconsoled.

January faded into February and Lily crossed out each day on the calendar with increasing worry. She hardly slept, she was too busy staring at her front door, waiting for him to barge in with his arms open wide.

She imagined it would be over soon, so much time had passed with no word, James would be back. James _had_ to come back.

But then February turned to March and March came in like a lion. Snow fall was replaced by rainy day after rainy day. She hadn't seen the sun in weeks and she was starting to become recluse on her couch, waiting for the rain to go away. James' birthday came around and she was desperate to get even a hint from him that he was keeping watch over her.

No such luck: she didn't even get a quick drawing on a napkin.

The aurors that Lily knew started to avoid her constant questions. She knew they weren't supposed to tell her anything but she couldn't help but feel like she was in the dark. A few of James' closer friends in the auror department pitied her and when she stopped by the office for the fifth time that week Alice Longbottom pulled her into her office.

"We haven't heard from James in weeks." Alice told her truthfully, "No check ins at rendezvous points—nothing."

Lily sunk in her chair and held her forehead. She was taken back through memories of similar words falling from Frank Longbottom's lips when James had demanded for help locating his partner Peter after a mission gone wrong.

Lily shuddered to think of when they'd finally found Peter because Peter was dead. James could be dead. He could be stone cold at the bottom of an endless ocean, sleeping with the fish. James could be dead in a cave filled with dragons or dead in a tree in Africa.

Hell, James could've been a daydream at this point, she hadn't heard from him in so long. The only proof Lily had of James' existence were the pictures lining her walls at her flat.

"You haven't even gotten a patronus?" Lily weakly looked through her fingers at her friend, "A coded letter?"

"He's gone too far underground." Alice told Lily, "He doesn't want to be found by the good guys _or_ the bad guys."

"Have you ever had other auror's disappear this long?" Lily asked fretfully, "This long without contact?"

"No." Alice's voice was passive, "Not since Pettigrew."

A sob rattled Lily's lungs like a heart attack. Alice patted Lily's back, trying to whisper soothing words like any friend would. Based on the thin lipped reply from Alice, Lily knew James' silence was worrying his home-base comrades.

"Have you tried to make contact?" Sirius, James' best mate, accompanied Lily to the auror headquarters three weeks later.

"Of course we have." Frank snapped, clearly exhausted with all their pressing questions, "We sent McKinnon into Egypt two weeks ago and she came back with nothing. Not a fake name. No address. No notes. Kingsley's been covering the case himself…"

"Why the bloody Hell is James in Egypt?" Lily demanded to know, "How do you lose someone in _Egypt_?"

"Listen," Frank shared at look with Alice, "Evans, I feel for you…I really do…but we can't share top secret Ministry information."

"He _hasn't_ been captured." Alice soothed Lily with a glare at her husband for being so insensitive, "We would've heard by now, the people he was assigned too, they'd want to use him to infiltrate our undercover aurors…"

"Hiding." Sirius whispered through his white fingers, "He must be hiding."

Lily swallowed thickly, "How long can he hide?"

"James is one of our top aurors and extremely loyal to his job duties," Frank said, "He won't come back until he's finished his mission."

May was quiet.

Lily spent her days going to work at the local potions apothecary and spent her nights waiting up by the window of her small flat daydreaming of times spent with James on warm summer days under a willow tree in his parents backyard. Sirius spent Fridays with her and they'd play a game of chess after dinner. Remus visited on Wednesdays, when he wasn't struggling to keep one of his many temporary jobs.

May was almost over when Alice and Frank Longbottom came to her door with a slight knock. There were only two days left of the wretched month when the Longbottom's delivered the news.

James Potter was dead.

At least, as dead as one can be, considering the silver etched gravestone sitting in the Godrics Hollow Graveyard. He was dead according to the Daily Prophet, which had published James' self written obituary where he'd called himself Hogwarts' greatest quidditch captain of all time. He also write that he was in love with the prettiest ginger in all of England.

Even in death, James was making Lily laugh with his jokes because he'd always been a witty trickster—but this was his biggest prank yet.

The Longbottom's had explained under duress of a muffalito spell cast about Lily's small flat. James had gone off the grid three weeks before but no one knew because he owl was delayed, delivered by a small screech that could barely fly when it reached the Ministry. Someone was after James and James needed a declaration of his death to shroud him like an invisibility cloak. Frank begged Lily for her help (and silence) on the matter

Lily wanted James to live and for James to live, he _had_ to die.

She didn't even hesitate when they asked Lily to help make the funeral believable. The casket was covered with dirt slowly on a rainy June morning. Lily was unconsolable, even by Sirius who often knew _just_ the right things to say. Remus was the only one who had the courage to get up on the podium and say a few words.

"He always wanted to be an auror." Remus told the small crowd of witches and wizards, "It's only fitting that James died doing what he loved."

Lily fiddled with the folds of her black dress. She couldn't help fidgeting, especially when everything about the funeral was smoke and mirrors. The casket was empty. The tombstone was fake. The death certificate had been approved by the Supervisor of Laws and Licenses at the Ministry, under special consideration from Kingsley Shaklebolt. Shaklebolt, who was the last person to have spoken to James, was especially quiet at the funeral.

Kingsley stood at the front of the wake with a man dressed in a long black cloak. His blue eyes scanned over the small crowd of witches and wizards all while stroking his long black beard. Lily felt like his eyes were boring through her as she waved her wand and showered sparks over James' empty casket. That particular man happened to be the Minister of Magic.

Lily knew him from the papers, Sebastian McAdams. He was ready made for the position of Minister. The previous Head of State, petitioned strongly for him. Rumors said McAdams was there when the old Minister had died. Some rumors say he killed the past Minister himself but some rumors also said that Voldemort killed her and put McAdams on top. The only problem with _that_ rumor was that McAdams became Minister after the dark wizard Voldemort had died mysteriously at an old shack not far from the old Gridlewald commons.

Lily was never one to listen to rumors but she didn't like the way McAdams' icy eyes swooped over her when he came to stand by her side and offer his condolences.

"You must be Mr. Potter's wife." he said cordially, holding out his hand to her.

"Girlfriend." Lily choked on the words in her throat as she shook his offered hand, "Lily Evans."

"Yes well, Potter was well received in our Ministry." the man bowed his head over their connected hands, "As Minister of Magic, I extend my deepest apologies to you for your loss."

Lily nodded at the Minister before the older man continued on to speak with her old Potion's Professor who had come to pay his own respects.

Once the Minister was out of earshot Alice Longbottom suddenly appeared and hissed in her ear, "Lily, what did McAdams say?"

Lily was surprised by the fury in Alice's tone, "Uh, he was just paying his respects."

"He didn't ask if you knew anything about James' work, did he?"

"No?" Lily blinked in confusion, "Should he have?"

Alice's face fell, "I suppose not." she said, her eyes traveling over to the Minister, "He knows better than to speak now."

"Why is he here?" Lily asked Alice, "Did he know James?"

Lily never remembered James saying he knew the Minister and she was certain that would've come into one of their many conversations. Alice seemed to think she'd already said too much because she just kept her eyes trained on the Minister. Alice's lips were drawn tight and Lily had a feeling the Minister knew more about James' disappearance than she did.

Lily only caught bits and pieces of James' work over the years. She knew whatever he did was important and dangerous. James' old partner and friend Peter Pettigrew had helped bring down the darkest wizard in the world called Voldemort…but Peter paid the ultimate cost for his bravery.

Lily's eyes grew weary as she remembered attending Peter's funeral.

She remembered James keeping his head tucked into her neck as they said goodbye to Peter's lifeless form.

Lily was suddenly very grateful the casket lowered into the ground was fake. James might be dead to the world but he was alive in her heart and she just knew he'd find his way back to her. She managed to rip herself away from the ghost of James' memory on her mind when a familiar man considered her with a smile.

"Headmaster!" A sigh of relief fell on Lily's lips and she instinctively reached out to hug her old school Headmaster.

Albus Dumbledore embraced Lily fondly. He was dressed in dark purple robes that almost looked black thats to the misty weather. Dumbledore's long white beard tickled her before he pulled back and spoke warmly, "I want you to know I was incredibly sorry to hear about Mr. Potter's death." Dumbledore's words shot like a bullet through her heart, "I know he loved you beyond comprehension and respected your grace and talent since you were both kids at my school."

"I don't know if he's been in love with me _that_ long." Lily laughed warmly, smiling her first real smile of the day.

"Love can be expressed in many ways." Dumbledore stated, "That includes thirteen year old James Potter singing his interesting poems to you at the Gryffindor table at breakfast."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Those god awful poems." she said affectionately, "He was better at drawing but he liked to pretend he could write poetry. He used to yell some of his one-liners at me when we were fighting just so I would smile."

"He loved you so much, Lily." Dumbledore repeated, "I only wish you two had gotten more time."

"James would be so happy to know you were here." Lily held onto Dumbledore's long fingers like a lifeline, "Thank you so much for coming Professor. James really appreciated your mentorship and knowing you cared for him would make him proud."

"I must admit I'm here on purely selfish reasons that include making sure you are okay." Dumbledore confessed, "I was hoping you could join me for tea tomorrow, Miss Evans."

"Tea?" Lily asked, quite surprised by his offer.

Dumbledore nodded, "If you can floo to my office, I'd like to have tea with you and Horace."

Lily tilted her head at the mention of her old Potions Master. The man himself stood only twenty feet away, deep in conversation with Sebastian McAdams. Lily chewed on her lower lip, knowing whatever Dumbledore wanted to discuss couldn't be said at the funeral.

"Of course." she murmured, "Tea, tomorrow."

A smile lifted Dumbledore's rosy cheeks, "I look forward to it."

He leaned forward to press a soft kiss against her cheek and his white beard ticked her chin again. Alice, who hadn't moved when Dumbledore stopped in front of them, looked bewildered.

"Why do you suppose he wants to have tea with you?" Alice asked.

Lily shrugged as another well wisher came up to speak to Lily, "Perhaps just to catch up? James and I were his Head Boy and Girl."

Lily couldn't help but to wonder herself about tea with Dumbledore but she pushed her wonders aside to allow more people to pay her their respects. By the time the funeral was over Lily almost felt as if James _had_ died. Sirius and Remus took her home and they sat on her sofa together in silence. A bottle of firewhiskey sat in front of them and they were all taking turns sipping from it.

"When James finally gets done this mission." Remus said the words Lily and Sirius were too scared too, "Will he get to come _back_ from the dead? Or will he be forced to be someone entirely new just to save the Ministry trouble?"

"I don't care." Lily lied to herself, because she did care, "I just want him to come home."

"It can't be long now," Sirius took a long swing of whiskey, "He'll be back in a few weeks, just wait and see."

Lily considered much later that it was a good thing that Sirius hadn't bet against himself because he would've lost sorely.


	3. Innocent

**Chapter 3: Innocent**

Buildings rose up around James as he walked farther into the city of Cairo. It was very different from the cottages of England where he'd grown up. Instead of red brick-lined walls that had stained glass windows left over from the fads in the fifties, these buildings were made up of a tan color that only seemed to increase the heat wavering around the air. The bustling streets were filled to the brim with people doing their daily mundane routes. James had been in the city long enough to recognize a few passerby as they walked past him. There was the mother and her three kids bartering for eggs from a stand on the roadside. There was the businessman walking into the tallest building on the square. The dog with a missing ear slunk through the shadows of the buildings looking for scraps.

James' eyes took in everything about his surroundings, a side-effect from Auror training.

James wore plain robes and had his messy black hair tied up behind a scarf as he weaved in and out of the many bodies. He was headed for the Azbakeya Marketplace, a place he'd been scouting since arriving in Cairo over a year before on orders from back home. He'd been living as a Cairo local for so long that a few shopkeepers noted him as he walked past.

"M _rhaba_ , James!" the woman who sold cheese at the edge of Azbakeya said excitedly, motioning to James' favorite herbal goat cheese.

"L _a_ ل _# um shkra lkem_." James nodded his head to the woman kindly before continuing his track up the road.

No matter how many times he'd walk into Azbakeya Market, it still took James' breath away. It was a mixture of old and new and strange and fascinating. Shelves were covered in hundreds of different types of books. There were some peddlers selling local delicacies. Anyone from the magical world, like James was, could spot the magical peddlers from a mile away. They dressed lavishly and often had magic simply out in front of muggle eye. The Egyptian Ministry of Magic had a very open policy between muggles and wizards. As far as James knew, a wizard could practice magic in front of a muggle and the Ministry wouldn't even bat an eye.

Wizards and witches from all over the world marveled at the genius of the Azbakeya Market. James passed a few young teen witches bent over a shelf of romance novels that contained recipes for love potions on the back. An old wizard with a white mustache was selling hippogriff meat, something that was very illegal in England. While James was delving deeper into the market a tall man in a white robe fell into step beside him. James didn't even glance over when he spoke.

"I'm becoming more noticeable, the woman that sells cheese on the corner street knows my name."

"That's because you're too friendly." the man chuckled as they both pretended to assess a shelf of books on Greek Mythology, "Stop smiling so much and look angry more."

"That's not possible."

"Well then, I guess your mission will fail because you can't be incorrigible."

James sent the man a wicked grin, "Whatever you say Kingsley, we both know your lot picked me because of my charismatic personality."

"I picked you because Dumbledore said you were smart."

"I thought it was because I'm the only Order member that can walk these streets and blend in." James disagreed, stroking his dark and curly beard wittily.

James was rewarded for his sass with a rare white smile from Kingsley, "Your genetics were particularly helpful, Potter." Kingsley snorted, "Of course, the minute you open up your stupid mouth, everyone in a three block radius knows that you're from Wales."

"A tragedy, really." James quoted his girlfriend Lily Evans and automatically his mind shifted back to her smile and how much he missed her.

James was happy to be trusted on this particular mission but it didn't make missing home any easier. James had only entered the auror force towards the end of the war on Voldemort and he was still considered a rookie in the field. They joked that he'd been picked for his looks and charisma but both Kingsley and James knew the only reason he was holed up in Egypt was because of his connection to the two Order of the Phoenix spies who had brought Voldemort's reign of terror to an end.

Peter Pettigrew had been a spy on both sides, serving the Order of the Phoenix with important information regarding Voldemort's inner circle. Peter collected the information and sent word to James who then translated all the notes to his superiors. Of course, James' bosses weren't all good and some of them told Voldemort he was being spied on. The auror department lost sixteen aurors after the information was leaked but Peter had stayed alive simply because James was acting as the middle man.

Voldemort had no idea who James was and so Peter stayed in Voldemort's inner circle untouched because he had no connection to anyone in the auror department (as far as Voldemort knew). It was while trying to gather information on Voldemort's mysterious disappearances that Peter met a young Death Eater named Regulus Black.

Regulus happened to be the younger brother of James' best friend Sirius Black but James could count the number of times he'd met Regulus on one hand. Regulus had joined the Death Eaters, dropping out of school to do so. As it turned out, Regulus regretted the choice he'd made and after Peter earned his trust, Regulus confessed to learning Voldemort's secret.

 _"Voldemort is making horcruxes, sir."_

James' skin bristled as he remembered the disgusted look on Dumbledore's face when he'd told James what Peter had learned. Voldemort had been splitting his soul in order to have a safety net in case someone should try to kill him. Regulus and Peter managed to find most of them, but it was while attempting to capture one of the horcruxes that the Ministry caught on. Peter died. Regulus Black was caught and then tossed into a cell on court order.

The Order was relieved to hear that Regulus was alive. James and Dumbledore were both determined to rescue Regulus from Azkaban but an hour after Regulus arrived at the prison an _accident_ happened. James used the term accident loosely. Regulus Black was found dead in his cell.

The Aurors confiscated the horcrux (James had examined the dark locket hundreds of times) but there was no trace of dark magic left. Peter had managed to find the horcrux and destroy it with Regulus, but he clearly paid dearly for it. James worked everyday knowing his fate could end up like Peter or Regulus.

James had been working the case in secret, trying to finish the job Peter and Regulus never could because the Ministry painted them as liars. James was determined to destroy the last horcrux—the last living piece of Voldemort. He knew he could do it, he had to do it, so that Peter and Regulus didn't die in vain. He had to make sure that Voldemort could never return to wreck havoc on the the wizarding world ever again. James wanted to raise a family with Lily but he wouldn't do so until he was sure Voldemort was never able to return.

He was determined to make the world safe for his future family. He imagined Lily, playing with a cherub cheeked baby in a park and his stomach lurched.

"How is she?"

James didn't even have to say her name, Kingsley knew exactly who James was asking about.

"Fine, still teaching at Hogwarts." Kingsley didn't miss James' sigh of relief before Kingsley added jokingly, "She's eloping with a potioneer."

"Ha. Ha." James said coolly, "Nice try but Lily would _never_ date a potioneer, they're greasy, mouth-breathing losers."

"Wasn't your _father_ a potioneer?"

"I digress."

Kingsley hit James' shoulder with a rather thick book for his smart-arse mouth. Even with his childlike exuberance, James was certain Kingsley liked James—if only because James was always happy-go-lucky. Kingsley was all professionalism and intimidation. At six foot seven Kingsley was two inches taller than James and burlier. In a fist fight in a dark alley, James trusted Kingsley to make it out alive before he did.

"I've only met her once," Kingsley continued as they scanned the books, "But I can see why you like her."

"I wish I could see her." James voiced out loud, giving away his feelings, despite being an open book either way.

"She still doesn't know about the Order." Kingsley reminded softly, "She's finally stopped coming to the Ministry to ask about you and it's just better to leave it all be."

James sighed as they passed another stand and both of them started flicking through books, "Any new intel on McAdams?" James asked Kingsley, dropping books as fast as he was picking them up.

Kingsley shook his head, "He's been in England for the last four months."

"And we're sure he doesn't have it?" he grumbled moodily, thinking of red hair and a pair of startling green eyes, "He hasn't caught on?"

Kingsley sent James a frown, "McKinnon would know."

"McKinnon plays receptionist but she's bound to miss—"

Kingsley cut James off with a bold look, "McKinnon would notice if McAdams got a new book."

"Well he hasn't been here in months." James said, "Maybe we're missing something?"

"This is where Peter linked the diary too in those notes we found." Kingsley disagreed, "This is the only lead we have."

"Azbakeya Market seems a bit farfetched for a diary."

"What better place to hide a book," Kingsley replied, "Than a giant library?"

"I dunno," James mumbled, "A giant _London_ library?"

" _James_." Kingsley's voice warned him like a father might warn his son to stop complaining.

James plucked at the water damaged pages of a Jane Austen book, " _You_ get to leave." he said bitterly, "I'm stuck here."

Kingsley noted the bitterness in James' voice and clapped his shoulder warmly, "I know you miss her," he said in a softer voice, "But it's better this way, at least until we get McAdams charged and destroy the horcrux."

"I don't know how any of that makes a difference."

"Why?"

"Because dead men can't visit their girlfriends." James said through clenched teeth.

"We'll come up with some excuse to bring you back to life once McAdams stops looking for you."

"The Daily Prophet will have a field day."

"They've been bored since The Quidditch Cup ended," Kingsley rolled his eyes as he mentioned The Daily Prophet, "Their gossip columnist has been seen snooping around the Ministry."

"They need a new bloody distraction or they'll blow this entire mission." James said, knowing full well the Prophet had a tendency to get information they shouldn't be able to access.

"You've got that right."

Kingsley and James continued their search among the millions of books that lined the Cairo streets. When they came up empty handed, they both agreed to go to the bar for a drink before Kingsley had to go back to the Ministry and feign that he was only working on Ministry orders—not the orders of a secret organization attempting to weed out the dark magic within the political scene. James had to die to get out of the Auror's control. Kingsley was still alive and therefore was a slave to McAdams' reign.

Kingsley bought James a beer and they sat on an outside patio. The air was dry and the heat of the Cairo sun was dimmed by an umbrella they sat under together. They were quite for most of the night until Kingsley asked a question that was more probing than anything.

"Are you planning on marrying that girl?"

"Lily? Of course." James said firmly as he rustled the pages of an old mapping book.

"It's harder to be married when you're an auror." Kingsley said softly, "The Longbottoms make it work but Alice and Frank are a rarity."

James replied softly, "I don't want to move up in the Department. Once this mission is done I'm handing in my resignation to the Ministry and telling Dumbledore my time as a spy with the Order is done."

"The Order too?" that seemed to surprise Kingsley.

"I don't want to endanger Lily or our future family."

Pity reflected in Kingsley's eyes, "You know, for someone who claims adamantly that your girlfriend can take care of herself, you sure do worry about her."

Kingsley left soon after dinner, shaking James' hand and promising to check in at their rendezvous point in three months.

James settled into his daily routines again. He knew what he was looking for but he had no idea where to find it until one day he was passing by a table of journals in the marketplace. The table was commonplace to the average eye but James' attention was caught by the quills writing by themselves on the parchment. He was struck by the oddity of the journal at the top of the pile, reflecting gemstones in the shape of a constellation. The magic seemed to flow off the table in a way that captured his attention too, the hair on the back of his he'd was standing up.

The man sitting behind the table was half asleep and James startled him awake as he started rummaging through the piles of journals. The man, a skinny wizard with dark circles under his eyes, protested as James tore down his towers of journals to find one that matched the sketch Peter Pettigrew had in his flat years ago.

"Oi!" the seller asked, trying to block James, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Looking for something." James replied back easily, without missing a beat, "How long have you sold these magical journals?"

The man lifted a eyebrow, "My father and I have sold books here longer than you've been alive son, now move along."

"Do you have records?" James asked furiously as he got lower in the stacks, "Any names?"

"Well I don't—"

"Fuck." James hissed over the seller as he pulled a thick leather bound black book from the bottom of the pile.

Just like the sketch, the edges of the diary were covered in gold. The black leather was soft against James' fingers while he flipped the book, examining it from every angle. The seller was beside himself.

"Did you want to buy that, boy?"

James' eyes shot up to the seller and then he waved the book between them, "How many of these specific diaries have you sold?"

"Mate," the seller said weekly, "That there is _dragon_ skin, rare and illegal, we've only sold about five of 'em since the business started."

"Are they popular?" James asked, "Dragon skin?"

"Not too popular." the man sighed, "Dragons are sacred creatures here, I could be fined and locked for even selling them without a permit."

"Do you know of any other place that sells these specific diaries? Or do you know who makes them?"

"Yes." the man nodded, "You'd be looking for Jacob Mathis. He makes diaries, watches, wallets, purses, and broomstick covers."

"In England?"

"Yes, in London."

James had to go back to London. _He could go home._ _He could see Lily. He could finally settle down._

 _T_ he bookseller was red but before James could ask any more questions, he felt a wand in his back.

"I knew you weren't dead, you son of a bitch." a familiar voice claimed, the wand forming a dent in James' back.

James said pleasantly as the bookseller disappeared, only glancing back at the table with worry as he ran, "You scared off my friend and we were having such a pleasant conversation."

"What did he tell you?"

James turned to see the Minister of Magic glaring at him, "How'd you find me?"

"I had Kingsley followed." McAdams said, "Glad I did actually, because now I can frame him and get him fired."

"All the Aurors love Kingsley." James debated, "You'd start a revolt."

The Minister said gladly, "I control the entire Ministry. Everyone listens to me. Everyone trusts my opinions. I can snap my fingers and get everyone to bow."

"Not _everyone_."

"Mr. Potter I don't think you quite understand who you're dealing with." the Minister said, "I was one of Voldemort's most _trusted_ friends. We were in school together, much like you and Mr. Pettigrew. I know a lot of magic, magic you cannot even dream of."

"I don't think _you_ quite understand who _you're_ dealing with." James mocked with a daredevil grin.

"You're James Potter." McAdams' eyes gleamed, "You graduated top of your class at Hogwarts. You fuck a mudblood and pay off werewolves. You joined the Ministry after auror training where your lowest proficient score was in history of dark magic." the wand dug into James' shoulder more, "You're as arrogant and as stupid as the rest of those buffoons in the auror department who think they can double cross me and live to tell the tale."

"I might be all of those things." James considered while pulling his sleeve up to show off the phoenix etched into his wrist, "But I'm also from the Order of the Phoenix."

For the first time since they'd started talking, recognition flashed across the old man's face. The diary in James' hand was creating imprint on James' hands as he stood his ground.

"Going to kill me then?" James asked coldly, almost knowing it was over.

McAdams sent a stinger James' was and James hissed as the spell cut across his neck, opening a new wound.

"I should have your arse dragged back to England and put in front of a court of law for committing crimes against your Ministry." McAdams pushed and James went flying forward into the table filled with journals. "Tried for the murder of Peter Pettigrew for reckless abandonment."

James pushed himself out of the books piling around him, "Peter died trying to keep the horcruxs' out of the hands of men like you!"

"Shut up." sparks shot from McAdams' wand, "What did the book keeper tell you?"

James spat, "I would rather die than betray the Order."

"I could just kill you," McAdams twirled his wand, "But you're resourceful and you won't let your friends die."

"What?"

"I can start with that muggleborn of yours."

James' heart was pounding so hard that he felt like his eardrums were going to explode from the pressure developing in his head, "What?"

"I hear she's been teaching potions at Hogwarts." McAdams looked bored, "It would be a shame for some poison to be dropped in her pepper-up potion. Or maybe slipped into her morning tea?"

"You can't touch her." James said worriedly, but he knew there was one thing he couldn't do—protect Lily from being caught up in the dangerous field of horcrux hunting and if McAdams decided to go after Lily she was in danger.

"I've been doing some research the last few months, since we last saw each other," McAdams continued, "and I managed to scrap up this photograph."

McAdams pulled out of a photo and flung it at James. James caught it between his fingers and then flipped the photo to look at it. His heart lurched in his throat. He knew the picture, it had been a favorite photo James' parents had kept in their family photo album. James didn't want to know how McAdams got it. In the photo, a younger James stood next to two boys. One of them was dark haired while the other contrasted with sandy hair. Sirius and Remus were grinning at James, who had his hands on a short boy in front of all of them.

"Pettigrew is dead so I figured I'd keep going through that photograph until you were the last one standing. Who should I start with? Sirius Black, perhaps? I would hate to let him walk this world alone without his late brother. Ah, but who's that werewolf friend of yours? Certainly he's a monster and probably deserves to die if you ask me-"

"No!" James' expression was wild, "Don't you dare touch any of them."

"I won't," McAdams promised, "As long as you tell me what you know."

"Leave them out of it." James hissed, "No one has to get hurt, they're all innocent."

"No one is entirely innocent Mr. Potter." McAdams snarled, "That's a fact of life."

James looked around at his exit points, the only one being through a alleyway only feet away. James knew that alleyway led to the backs a a few shops he could easily get lost in. McAdams saw James' eyes shift and his wand sent warning sparks in James' direction.

"What did the book keeper say? Where is the diary?"

"For someone who claims to have been close to Voldemort, you don't seem to know all his secret hiding places."

"He didn't tell us where they were hidden, just that he had them."

"Convenient."

"The diary is the last one."

"I know." said James, "and the Order will find it and destroy it."

"And Voldemort will honor you for helping him return to his rightful place." McAdams determined, "He'll give you anything you want, he'd probably even let you keep the mudblood around for a bit, as long as she gave up her wand and you didn't mind sharing her."

"Fuck you." James snapped before reaching into his pocket and whipping his invisibility cloak over his head just as McAdams raised his wand.

It was too late for McAdams to aim his spell, James was invisible to the naked eye. James' feet pounded against he pavement as he raced through the alleyway, McAdams' poorly aimed curses ricocheted off the walls around him. Bits of stone hit James through the cloak but his skin wasn't pierced thanks to the magical fabric.

"You can run!" McAdams called after him, "But I'll be waiting for you."

"You'll be waiting a Hell of a long time." James muttered as he raced away from the Minster.

"If you _ever_ show your face in England again, I'll make sure that your fake gravestone becomes your _real_ gravestone!"

James didn't stop running, not until he'd made it to the place he'd been living the last three weeks. James shaved his beard, cutting his face in the process because he was moving so fast. He grabbed his fake passport and dressed in light clothes that looked right out of a magazine. Using his wand he changed the name on the muggle passport, using a name he'd never used before. With another swipe of his wand, his hair grew longer and changed to a more russet brown.

When he made his way down the busy streets of Cairo only minutes later the sun was setting and the air was cooling. The bus he hopped on was filled with travelers and tourists alike. James paid the driver enough to get to the last stop. He would use magic as little as possible. He would blend into the muggle world as much as a pureblood wizard possibly could. He would keep his friends and his family safe.

Until the horcrux diary was destroyed, until McAdams was thrown from the Ministry, James Potter was dead.

James' only clue to the last horcrux was Jacob Mathis but he couldn't risk getting the information through letter form, anyone could pluck a note off an owl. James also couldn't deliver the news to the Order in person, as the only way to do so would involve breaking into Hogwarts...where Lily was...and once James saw Lily he knew he would never be able to leave her again. His only other option was to work undercover, alone, trying to track down the man who sold a diary to a young Voldemort.

James' months passed by quickly as he checked every seller of wizardry books in Great Britain. He was growing somber in his search, always reaching a dead end until he entered an old shanty where a witch in silver shawls did tarot readings. She wore thick glasses and was preforming a reading for a shivering muggle woman when James entered the shop.

"I'll be with you in a 'mo dear." The witch told James.

"I'm just looking." James replied, scanning the shelves of books the witch sold alongside fake potions and spell tracers.

It was while tracing his fingers along the spines of all the dust covered books that he came across a familiar last name.

"Mathis."

James pulled the book from the shelf and opened it, dust flying through the air as he scanned the words on the first page. It appeared to be hand written. There was a date at the top of the first page and a curly signature at the bottom of the page. In-between both, words meshed together to form sentences written by a wizard. The sentences formed clear, precise lines on the page. James realized at closer inspection that the sentences were actually names, numbers, and dates.

 _Hickabee. 2G. 1928._

 _Amberly. 2G. 1928._

 _Jacobson. 4G 1928._

The mannerisms continued to the very last page of the book. James' eyes desperately searched the book for anything, something, that would make sense but it was all gibberish.

"Why are you reading my grandfather's notebook?" an amused voice asked and James closed the book in surprise.

The witch had finished her tarot readings and was observing James over the rim of her glasses from the table. The candles on the table illuminated her pale face in a way that was almost creepy. Her eyes were bright blue and her hair was stick straight under her shawls. She wore a number of scarves over her robes, James admired one littered with shooting stars before his eyes fastened on her wand, resting in plain sight on the table.

"Do the muggles really know you're magical?" James asked, forgoing a normal response.

The witch laughed, "Muggles." she rolled her eyes, "Don't notice much, do they?"

"Suppose not." James muttered, glancing back down at the book in his hands.

The cover was the same dragon hide as the diary that he was searching for. The witch had said the diary was her grandfather's notebook. James wondered if it was a coincidence that the books were so similar.

"My, oh my," the witch clucked her tongue, pulling James from his inner monologue, "You are a hard one to read."

"Pardon?" James knitted his brow together as he assessed the witch again.

"You." the witch stood up from her table, towering at James' level, taller than most witches James that knew, "Why are you dressed like a muggle?"

James shrugged, "I like their robes."

"And do you also like reading receipts?" her blue eyes twinkled as she took a step towards James and snatched her grandfather's notebook from him, "I assure you that I have more interesting books for sale."

"Was your grandfather's name Jacob?"

The witch looked startled, "Yes?" and then she became even more perplexed, "You do not have the makings of a wizard with the inner eye...who are you?"

"My name is Sirius." James lied quickly, "I'm passing through this town and noticed you sold books."

"Liar."

"Pardon?"

The witch placed the notebook on her table before turning around halfway to glare at James, "Your name is not Sirius."

"Are you a seer?"

"No." her red lips lifted, "But I tend to know when people lie to me."

"My name is Sirius." James said more firmly, "And I am only passing through this town."

"Whatever you wish to have me believe." the witch sighed, sitting on the edge of her table and eyeing James, "How did you know my grandfather?"

"I didn't." James said, ruffling his long russet hair awkwardly, "I just-er-I met someone who knows him."

The witches blue eyes were examining something beyond James' left shoulder, "Ah, I see."

"Was he around?" James asked, "I wanted to speak with him."

"I'm afraid he's dead." the witches voice grew flat suddenly.

James' ears flushed red, "Oh, erm, so sorry for intruding then."

He bristled as he made his way for the door but then the witch's voice cut through his skin like a knife.

"You're James Potter."

James whirled, wand aloft and pointed at the blue eyed witch staring at him from her table. The air shimmered from the candles around them and suddenly James felt like the air was thick with incense. The witch pushed up and off her table, dancing his way slowly.

"How did you know my name?" he asked, worriedly, "Who do you work for?"

The witch stopped in her tracks but only because of the wand pointed at her heart. James watched her blue eyes flicker, the intelligence in them almost scaring him.

"I don't work for anyone." the witch replied, "I'm a Legilimens"

"You can read minds."

Her red lips curved at him again, "You came to ask my grandfather if he sold one of his journals to a young Tom Riddle."

James blinked at her, "Impressive."

"What's even more impressive is that you've managed to escape capture."

James bristled, "Not sure what you mean."

The witched leaned over her table and grabbed a newspaper from behind the desk. She motioned for James to join her in reading. James glanced back at the door handle.

"I wouldn't run if I were you," she said with warning in her tone.

James swallowed thickly and begrudgingly went to stand next to the witch. She smelled distinctly like tea leaves and cigs. James adjusted the glasses on his face so that he could read the newspaper.

"I wouldn't have recognized the name floating around in your head," the witch said, "But I've just gotten done reading the Prophets my neighbors throws out-"

James saw that the section she was pointing at had a picture, a picture he had seen one hundred times before. His heart lurched as his fingertips pressed against the paper. Smiling up at James were a pair of familiar green eyes framing a face so tender that it almost broke his heart. The headline was large enough to capture anyones attention.

 _Professor Evans Unseemly Awarded with Teacher of the Year_

 _Deep in the dungeons of Hogwarts, the dank hallways and dark corners are filled with the annoying smell of rotting animals and drying herbs. The smells must be reminiscent of her home in Cokeworths, though Professor Evans speaks fondly of her childhood home. Readers might remember Professor Evans, the broken girlfriend of ex-Auror James Fleamont Potter. She spoke out against Minister Sebastian McAdams' public statement that Potter had died in a plot to assassinate McAdams and led the court case to prove Potter's innocence. Of course, the case was never completed. It was buried with her dead lover; a topic which Professor Evans refused to comment on._

 _Despite being a popular teacher among students, most parents find her teachings to be a little less than basic, which makes us wonder how she managed to snag Teacher of the Year. Nonetheless, you can find Professor Evans accepting the award at the ministry banquet in two days. Don't worry dear readers, for I, Rita Skeeter, will be there to dig up more dirt on the 'dead' Potter case._

By the end of the article, James' eyebrows reached his hairline.

"What. The Fuck." he managed, voice croaking, "Who the Hell is Rita Skeeter?"

"My favorite Daily Prophet writer." the witch replied.

"You've got to be kidding me."

The witch laughed again, "No, but I can see from inside your head that Skeeter doesn't portray you _or_ Professor Evans properly."

"No," James said sarcastically, "You think?"

"Well for one," the witch pinched James' arm, "You are very much alive or someone who's supposed to be dead."

"Observant." James rubbed his arm where the witch pinched him, "What's your name?"

"Hanna Mathis." the witch stuck out a manicured hand to James, "Local village crazy person."

James liked her, for all her eccentrics. He took her outstretched hand and shook it heartily.

"James," he said, "My friends call me James."

Hanna placed the newspaper down by her grandfather's notebook, "You're a long way from your gravesite Mr. Potter."

James ignored that and instead lifted up the book, "Do you know-"

Hanna cut him off lazily, "No."

James frowned, "I didn't even finish asking."

Hanna pointed to her head with an obvious look, "I can read every thought crossing that brain of yours Potter."

James blinked in realization, "So you know everything?"

Hanna laughed, "No," she admitted, "But I know enough. I know you are not the man described in the papers. I know you are searching for a diary owned by a very dark wizard. I know you are in love with Lily Evans."

"And do you know how I can get the diary?" James asked.

Hanna leaned against a bookshelf, "I'm afraid that without meeting the owner-I do not know that answer."

James sighed deeply and crossed his arms, "Well, the owner is dead."

"Yes." Hanna agreed, "The world is better off that way."

James' shoulders dropped and he stared out the window of the shop. When seeing Mathis' name on the bookshelf James had felt a bubble of hope rise in his throat but now he only felt hopeless again. He felt like he was on a wild goose chase, trying to get Voldemort's last horcrux before McAdams or any other lunatic that wanted to bring Voldemort back. James didn't even know if Voldemort had bought his diary from Mathis.

James reached for the book on the table. He flipped through the pages, scanning them one by one as Hanna watched with interest. The names were sometimes hard to make out. Some were scribbled in quickly and others were written in nicely. Some had ink that ran off the page and some names were obscure. There were no mentions of Tom Riddle, Voldemort's given name, but James was surprised when he saw a name he definitely recognized.

 _Slughorn. 3G. 1940._

James' hazel eyes lifted to Hanna, "Your grandfather used this book to keep track of his sales?"

Hannah nodded, "He'd take the name, the payment made in galleons, and the date sold."

James glanced back down at the page where _Slughorn_ was written in Jacob Mathis' curly writing. James had spent long hours with the wizard named Horace Slughorn. It was rather intriguing to James, for the entire investigation to lead back to Slughorn who had not only taught James...but who had also taught Voldemort back before he was Voldemort.

James knew that Slughorn had favored Voldemort-a fact Slughorn was adamant to reject when asked in interviews during the war. Slughorn's reputation for collecting fascinating students was well-known and young Voldemort had been fascinating. Voldemort excelled in all his classes and was made prefect by the school teachers. It was when the teachers weren't looking that Voldemort practiced his dark magic.

James' fingers passed over Slughorn's name as he considered his options.

Slughorn was no longer at Hogwarts, he'd retired and Lily had taken his place, James knew that much. The problem was that James didn't know where to find Slughorn as the old man was never too fond of James. The only person James knew who might know Slughorn's whereabouts was Lily and there was no way he could face her, not yet.

"I'm sure she misses you."

James looked up. He had forgotten he was still in Hanna's shop. Hanna's blue eyes were shining vividly from behind her glasses. James realized she had been reading his mind while he'd been standing there trying to figure out what to do.

"I can't visit any of them." James told Hanna, "McAdams likely has them all tracked and if I'm seen interacting with any of them-especially Lily-he'll kill them until I get him the damn diary."

"A lot of people want this diary." Hanna said softly, "Why?"

James cleared his throat, "It's filled with dark magic."

"Well then it's better hidden, isn't it?"

"The world won't be safe until the diary is destroyed." James said, "And only Albus Dumbledore knows how to destroy the dark magic."

Hanna tapped her fingernails against her skin, "I suppose you should speak to Professor Slughorn then."

James perked up, "You know Slughorn?"

"I went to Hogwarts too, of course, and Slughorn rather liked me."

"You were in Slug Club?" James asked eagerly, not believing how lucky he was.

Hanna smiled and nodded, "You stumbled into the right shop Mr. Potter."

"I guess I did."

"Come on," Hanna motioned to a deer near the back end of the shop, "He sends out invitations at least once a year to all his old favorite students for Slug Club reunions at his cottage."

Hanna more than delivered. She found Slughorn's address for James in a matter of minutes and even found him some of her father's old robes so he could change from the ratty robes he'd been wearing for months. Hanna's home was eclectic and filled with lots of artifacts and candles. She offered James some tea and scones inside her busy kitchen, filled to the brim with ceramic cat figurines.

"You like cats." James commented as Hanna made new dough on her yellow countertops.

"Love them." Hanna said, "Tragically, I'm allergic."

James winced, "That is tragic."

Hannah smiled kindly at him as she kneaded the dough, "Grandfather made up for it by collecting these ceramics for me." she laughed a little to herself when she added, "My father told me to get over it and buy a owl."

James bit into another scone ravenously as they talked. Hanna noticed the way he ate and furrowed her brow.

"How long has your mission been going on?" she asked.

James shrugged, "Too damn long."

"I'll say." Hanna wiped her hands on her robes before crossing them in his direction, "You act like you haven't eaten a decent meal in months."

"That's cause I haven't." James laughed darkly, "In fact, you're the first person I've talked too in over five months."

Hanna's jaw dropped, "That's unhealthy."

James shrugged again, "Just doing my job."

Hanna leaned against her counter dreamily, "I wanted to be an auror, you know."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be." James said from his chair.

"It's not all sunshine and saving the world, then?"

"Not even close."

Hanna sighed from the counter as she read his mind, filled with dark images of death, despair, and loneliness. James saw her glasses slide down her long nose as she glanced at the floor, embarrassed.

"I thought I could do something useful with my legilimens." Hanna said, "Instead of wasting my talent and being a muggle fortune teller like my mum."

"Then why didn't you?" James asked nosily.

Hanna bitterly responded, "If you keep telling yourself you aren't good enough, eventually you start to believe it."

James tilted his head at the witch, "You are good enough."

Hanna shook her head, "No, I'm not."

"You can read minds," James said flatly, "I'd kill for that skill. It would make this entire ordeal much easier-Holy _Agrippa_ -wait a second!"

Hanna saw what was gong through his mind, "Oh no," she immediately started, "I cannot go with you."

"Why not?" James demanded quickly, "Slughorn loves you, I could use you to sway him and read his mind!"

"I-I can't just leave." Hannah's face was red, "I've got clients and- _and_ -"

James could see she was grasping for words, trying to find a good enough reason to stay where she felt most at home, despite wanting so desperately to leave. James stood up from the table and crossed the kitchen, pleading with his eyes.

"Hanna, I could really use you. _Please_."

Hanna chewed on her lower lip, "I-I don't-"

"Please." he said again, "Help me find this diary and I'll help you get a meeting at the auror academy."

He was excited to see her blue eyes shift into a more relaxed state.

"Alright." she swallowed, "I'll help."


	4. The Story of Us

"Congratulations, Professor Evans."

Those were words that she kept hearing over and over again from the mouth of almost every person in the room as she sipped on her gin and tonic. Despite the occasion, Lily didn't think she ought to be standing there pretending everything was fine. Beside Lily, Sirius was bristled like a guard dog with it's hair on end. They had both cornered themselves in the room, as close to the door as possible. Neither of them were particularly fond of some of the people in the room. The Malfoy family stood not too far away, their clear blue eyes assessing Lily with clear distaste. Sirius' own family (the ones still alive) were practically sharpening their knives for a fight.

Unfortunately, Lily was obligated to be in the room, as she was there representing Hogwarts. The Ministry was holding a summer banquet. All the well respected witches and wizards were in attendance to raise money for the Ministry's chosen non profit. As Hogwarts' reigning Teacher of the Year, Lily had been invited as Headmaster Dumbledore's companion.

Originally Lily had been okay with the thought of standing in a room filled with people she couldn't stand. After all, when Dumbledore offered Lily the chance to network in the Ministry she was hardly in a position to turn down her boss. Lily had assumed she would be with Dumbledore and she had assumed Sirius' presence would be comforting.

She'd been very, very wrong.

First of all, Dumbledore left last minute due to an urgent call in France from an old friend. Second of all, Sirius' presence was less comforting than it should've been because he was on edge as much as she was.

Sirius tugged at the tie around his neck unpleasantly as one of his cousins passed with a snarky glare their way.

"Don't start a fight." Sirius murmured to himself, "Don't start a fight."

"Please don't, or I'll have to join in and rip Alice Longbottom's pretty dress robes." Lily murmured back.

"Whatever you say Professor." Sirius said with a short laugh, one to tease her for her moniker.

Lily sent Sirius a pitiful smile as she placed her glass on the closest table so she could fix his lopsided tie for him. It too a few moments of her fingers sliding along the silk to recognize it. Her fingers gripped the tie and her heart lurched. The stag embroidered at the point was a detail she'd sewn in herself one Christmas Eve while James slept soundlessly next to her in bed.

Sirius noticed her pause, always tune to her emotions, and his hand touched her shoulder in question.

Lily swallowed thickly before glancing up at Sirius, "you—you wore James' tie."

Sirius looked guilty, "I didn't own one and James—well he always kept muggle clothes for when you visited your family."

Tears pricked her eyes but she tucked her chin so that Sirius couldn't see them. Sirius didn't need to see tears to know she was upset. He sighed, ever the drama king, and nudged one of his feet closer to her, capturing her watery stare again.

"Don't be sad, we're not here to be sad."

"Why are we here?" Lily asked pathetically, her fingers dropping from the tie, "We aren't having any fun."

"We're here." Sirius reminded her gently, "Because you were a fucking fantastic teacher and deserved recognition by the school board and the Ministry."

Lily flushed deeply at Sirius' praise. She had never expected to love teaching as much as she did. When Slughorn and Dumbledore had offered her the job she had been afraid to take it. After all, Lily had spent most of her career in a stuffy potions room brewing up boring old pepper-up potions. Yet, when she entered the old Potions classrooms on the first day of school, all her worries melted away as the first years stumbled into their first potions lesson. She was a natural at teaching, it turned out. She worked well with the students and they seemed to really appreciate her fresh look on potion brewing. She'd had an 80% Exceeds Expectations average with her students—an all time high for Potions.

Despite only a few mishaps with students who needed Merlin to ascend from the high heavens and smack them across the face, the Board of Governors had no choice but to begrudgingly pass Lily the Teacher of the Year award. _Begrudgingly_ because the Board of Governors was made up of old blood that believed Lily was scum of the earth just because her parents were muggles. Almost half the board was made up of the same loons James used to wand fight in the streets at midnight. Lily recognized a couple of them from being bullies in the hallways during her own school years. Those people knew not to mess with Lily, she had a pretty favorable hex to the knickers that she was famous for in her sixth year.

Thinking back to sixth year she was brought back to James.

The entire banquet was a flop without her right hand man and as much as she loved Sirius, she missed James more than anything.

If James were there, he'd make Lily laugh and have her forget all about her enemies and wrongdoers. If he were there he'd sweep her up into his arms and he'd dance her in circles to the painfully music. His lips would be at her ear whispering words of wonder. His hands would be tracing her curves. His laughter would have red up even the coldest corners of the room.

If James were there, Lily wouldn't give a damn about who stared at her because she wouldn't be able to take her eyes off him.

But she hadn't see or heard from James in over a year.

According to the Ministry, James was dead.

According to the Minister, he was a traitor.

A part of Lily wanted nothing more than to run from the room, another part of her wanted to stand up on the table and scream at everyone around her to stop staring.

"Lily?"

Lily turned at the soft voice and was startled to find a familiar friendly face that she hadn't seen in years.

"Oh my—Fabian!"

They both laughed as they hugged each other tightly. Lily pulled back and Fabian looked at Sirius, ever the sulking companion. Fabian stuck his hand out to Sirius with a certain flair reserved for only the happiest of people.

"Sirius!" Lily beseeched when Sirius didn't move, "Don't you remember Fabian?"

Fabian Prewett had been three years ahead of Lily and Sirius in school. In school, Fabian was Hufflepuff's star chaser and he'd gone big leagues once school was over. Lily knew from the Daily Prophet and school gossip that he played professionally as a chaser on the Tornados. His biggest accomplishment was that he got picked last season to play for England internationally. Even with those accomplishments he was still the down-to-earth Hufflepuff Lily remembered from school. He as the exact opposite of his twin brother Gideon, a rough and tough Gryffindor who had gone off to tame dragons in Romania. Where Gideon had spent his years cursing and collecting new scars in Care of Magical Creatures, Fabian was kind with ginger hair and boy-next-door looks that even put Sirius' good looks to shame.

Lily sensed the distaste in Sirius' stone cold handshake. She chewed her lip and remembered that Sirius and James had spent plenty of time in detention thanks to Fabian over the years. She shot Sirius a warning look when Fabian wasn't looking. Sirius' shoulders dropped and Lily swore she saw a slight roll of his eyes as he offered Fabian a slightly warmer hello.

"It's been a long time since the detention room Black." Fabian didn't seem put off by Sirius' behavior, "I must say, I never imagined the two of you would end up together."

"Gross no," Sirius blanched, "I would never date Evans, she's like my sister."

Fabian raised an eyebrow, "Pardon me for assuming, I heard two other witches saying—and it seemed natural since Potter was his best mate—erm not that you—never mind—"

"You think Lily jumped from one pureblood to another?" Sirius asked nastily.

Fabian raised his hands, "No!" he looked at Lily, now worried he'd offended her, "I was awfully sorry to hear of Potter's passing. I read his obituary. It was…very Potter."

Lily took pity on Fabian who had clearly fallen for old witch gossip.

"James wrote it himself…" she said fondly of her lost boyfriend.

"I figured," Fabian grinned and his thick red eyebrows danced, "since the damn thing said that Potter was Hogwarts' greatest quidditch player ever, a title that clearly falls to me."

Lily gave a short smile at the thought of Fabian and James fighting on the pitch to become the greatest quidditch player of all time. Those were much easier days, where Lily's biggest issue was what she was having for dinner after she finished her homework. It was a time when her hand was always accompanied by James' and there never seemed to be a cloud in the sky. Metaphorically speaking, as it was England and there were always clouds in the sky.

"What are you two doing at a boring shin-dig like this?" Fabian asked the pair, genuinely interested.

"Staging my murder." Sirius deadpanned and Lily pinched Sirius when Fabian shot Sirius a confused look.

Lily decided to reroute the topic, "How's quidditch Fabian?"

If anything Fabian's grin got wider now that she'd changed the subject to his life, "Brill, thanks. I think England might stand a chance against France this year." he puffed out his chest with a half glance Sirius' way, "I made Captain."

Lily gasped and placed a hand on Fabian's arm, "Fabian! That's _so_ wonderful, my goodness!"

Fabian flushed at her praise. Sirius looked like he wanted to be sick.

"Thanks Lily." Fabian said warmly, "I'll have to get you tickets."

"I'd love that."

"You can come too." Fabian offered to Sirius.

"Thanks but I have plans." Sirius said.

"There are multiple games."

"I have plans everyday, for the rest of the season."

"Ignore him." Lily beseeched, "He's being rude."

"It's fine, quidditch isn't for everyone." Fabian seemed amused by Sirius' behavior, looking Sirius up and down with interest.

Lily would've loved to have told Fabian that Sirius was a special sort of loyal—that he had to grow on you—but Fabian spotted someone to their left and excused himself quickly to go speak to the group of wizards. Lily watched Fabian get greeted warmly by the entire group and she smiled, happy to see him doing so well after Hogwarts.

"Merlin," Sirius snorted from beside Lily, "What a pompous git."

"Fabian?" Lily laughed, pinching Sirius' arm, " _You_ are a pompous git, Fabian is a sweetheart."

"I don't like him."

"Only because he gave you detention for half your pubescent life."

" _And_ because he's a git."

Lily sighed and took a long swing of her drink, the glass drained in seconds, "Yeah, okay Padfoot."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at Lily for using Sirius' school-given nickname.

"Miss Evans?"

Lily lowered the glass from her lips and was startled by the newcomer to the conversation. She shoved her glass, now drained of gin, into Sirius' empty hands and quickly smoothed her dress before offering a hand to her oldest and dearest Professor. Slughorn looked as if retirement had agreed with him, agreed with his stomach that is. His belt was cinched tight to his elongated waist and his cheeks were rosy red.

"You look much better than the last time I saw you." Professor Slughorn praised, touching her cheek fondly, "You look more like yourself."

"I've found time can heal most anything." Lily lied cooly, feeling Sirius shift next to her.

"Yes," this seemed to dampen his mood, "I was awfully sorry about reading that James was a traitor to the Auror Department. I can't imagine—"

"You know James would never do anything to betray his friends or family." Lily said firmly to her old friend, "The Minister has no right to assume the man who attacked was my James."

Professor Slughorn placed both hands on her shoulders, pity settling between his brows, "No," he said suddenly, "No, of course Lily. James loved you so much."

"I know."

She can remember a time when no one had doubted their love. She can remember a time when people would yearningly look her way as James coddled her before class and whisper to their mates, 'they're the lucky ones'. Lily didn't feel so lucky anymore, not now, not without James.

Slughorn saw the tears flickering just beyond her sight, "I know it can be hard to think of someone one way and find out they are another thing entirely."

It as Sirius' turn to speak loyally of James, "He didn't kill anyone, sir."

Slughorn looked around Lily to spot Sirius and he suddenly was flustered, "Ah, Mr. Black. I should've known."

Sirius' eyes flickered at the implications, "It's been a long time since potions, Professor."  
"Yes, quite." Professor Slughorn turned his attention back to Lily, "My dearest Lily, did you get my invitation for tea?"

Lily's smile flickered, "I did sir, I'd love to join you next week."

"Fabulous." Slughorn kissed her cheek, "Don't mind me excusing myself, I spotted Fabian Prewett and I must get his owl address."

Sirius watched Slughorn walk away with blackened eyes, "Fuck, who does he think he is?"

"Slughorn knows about as much as the rest of them." Lily reminded Sirius, "As far as anyone here is concerned, James is dead because he attacked the Minister of Magic on vacation."

"You and I both know if James wanted to kill McAdams he had plenty of chances to do so but he didn't want to marry you from Azkaban."

Lily didn't answer Sirius' hasty hiss because her eyes had caught the stare of another wizard across the room. He wore thick maroon robes and his blue eyes shone like a beacon through a curtain of black hair. His beard had grown since the last time she'd saw him in court—defending James' name to her own grave. McAdams' mouth curved up in a smile and Lily felt a chill seep through her bones as he waltzed across the hall tow here she and Sirius were standing.

"Professor Evans." The Minister held out a hand to her and she refused to take it.

"Sir." she didn't even call him Minister, he didn't deserve the respect.

"Come now girl," the Minister said snappily, "It does you no good to be mad at me for your late husbands undoing."

"For the last time sir," Lily said coldly, "He wasn't my husband and now he never will be, thanks to you."

"Come on Lily," Sirius urged, "Let's go."

Lily took Sirius' hand and they both reeled as they walked out of the hall side-by-side. Lily's blood felt like it was on fire as her brain sorted through all the things he wished she could say to the Minister without being arrested.

"I hate him." she complained over and over to Sirius as the tears rimmed her eyes, "I've never hated anyone as much as I've hated him."

Outside, the cool air hit her lungs and the tension in her head was pushing at her emotions. Lily leaned against the wall closest, placing her head in one of her hands. People had started leaving the party and some witches looked over at Lily and Sirius standing there like the world was spinning around them too fast to move. Lily stared at her feet through her fingertips and beside her, Sirius pulled a cig out of his pocket and started smoking it.

"I don't know how much longer I can take this." Sirius whispered, "Not knowing where he is."

"I just want him to come home." she managed to speak, thought it was muffled through her fingers.

"Are you two okay?" a voice asked, not unkindly.

Lily looked up, dropping her fingers from her eyes. Lily saw Fabian Prewett had exited the party and was staring at them. He was wearing an expression close to concern when he saw the distressed look on Lily's face.

"Lily?"

Lily struggled to pull herself together as Sirius took a long drag of his cig, "Nothing Fabian, I just—erm—got some bad news."

Fabian's red hair was blowing in the wind as Fabian took another step closer to Lily, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," Lily smiled weakly and waved a hand in the air to blow off Fabian's concern, "I just got dizzy, too much gin I suppose."

Fabian cracked a smile, "I suppose."

"It was really nice seeing you again Fabian." Lily promised her old friend, "We really ought to catch up soon."

Fabian looked touched at her sentiments and reached into his pockets, pulling out a small wallet. Lily watched as Fabian pulled four gold stubs from the front pocket. He passed them to Lily and she grasped them firmly, reading the small inscription on the front.

"They're good for one practice." Fabian offered kindly, "You and your friends can come, maybe it'll help get your mind off whatever troubling you. I know how much you liked quidditch."

Lily smiled for real now, placing a hand on Fabian's arm after tucking the tickets into her own pockets, "Thanks Fabian."

After Fabian had continued on his way Sirius said bitterly, "God, if James _were_ here he'd be absolutely pissed."

"James doesn't hold grudges as long as _some_ people."

"Fabian had James and I polish the entire trophy room by hand once." Sirius disagreed firmly, "I'm still getting polish out of my nails."

"Dramatic much," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Never dramatic enough." Sirius dropped the last bit of his cig to the ground and smashed it with his shoe before offering Lily his hand, "Come on Evans, I'll get you another drink and you'll feel better."

Lily doubted anything would make her feel better but she let Sirius guide her away from the Ministry. She didn't dare look back because she always had a fear that McAdams was always following her.

She just wanted James back.

One week later her fears of being followed her confirmed when she was sitting alone at the bar of her favorite restaurant. The Golden Horse was always quiet and filled with a warm glowing light that gave Lily's pale skin a sun kissed look. The cafe was owned by a younger couple who spent a majority of their time passing love notes back and forth over the food they delivered.

Lily was writing down some new ideas of lessons plans when the door to the cafe opened and the Minister of magic walked through. His long black beard was shaped slightly and his brows narrowed when he spotted her alone at her bench.

The Minister smiled, an action that didn't seem to fit his serious demeanor. Two Aurors flanked the Minister in warning. One of them was a blond woman with a pointed nose pierced with a diamond, the other was an older man with piercing blue eyes. The woman Auror closed the door behind the Minister once he sat down opposite of Lily. She didn't know why, but staring at McAdams made her slightly sick to her stomach.

"You look nervous." McAdams noticed not unkindly, "Why?"

Lily cleared her throat, "I'm not nervous."

McAdams laughed a bit to himself and leaned against the chair. His arms were crossed and he observed her sitting there with a calculating frown.

"I've heard a great deal about you in the last few months." he said, "But I suppose a woman that buries her boyfriends fake dead body _wants_ draw a lot of attention to herself."

The woman Auror shifted uneasily as Lily chocked back her surprise. The cafe owners had come out at first, but seeing the serious conversation, slunk into the back without speaking. Lily tried to get her expression to flatten and not give away her utter shock.

" _Pardon_?"

She couldn't believe the insensitivity.

She couldn't believe they'd dug up James' grave.

She couldn't believe the Ministry was jeopardizing one of their own, just to bring James down.

"Tell me why I found an empty casket when my Aurors dug up James Potter's grave."

"Surly you could tell me," Lily said just as saucily, her eyes flashing, "It's _your_ Auror department that insisted he'd be safer if he died."

"So he's alive." this seemed to please McAdams.

"Ask your Auror department." Lily tried to push back the tears threatening to fall.

McAdams waved at the air, as if her suggestion was senseless, "The Aurors don't know."

"Well _I_ don't know." Lily said, "And if I did, I wouldn't tell you anyways."

McAdams narrowed his eyes, "Who told you to bury an empty casket?"

Lily blinked furiously. Every part of her screamed not to trust him. Every part of her wanted to tell him she knew exactly who and what he was: a snake.

Instead, coolly, she kept her gaze level with his, "No one told me to bury an empty casket."

"Surly you knew Potter wasn't in the casket you blessed at the funeral?"

"Sir," Lily's voice broke, "I don't believe I deserve this interrogation outside of the Ministry. Not without proper representation."

McAdams looked as if he wanted to hex Lily into the next century, "It's a simply _yes_ or _no_ answer Mrs. Evans. Did you, or did you not know that James Potter is alive?"

Lily grew stone cold, "Why dos it matter to you? You said he tried to kill you. You've ruined his reputation. What more could you do?"

McAdams frowned, "If Mr. Potter isn't working for his Ministry, who _is_ he working for?"

"James has worked proudly for the Ministry since he joined the Auror force." Lily defended James loyally, "I assure you, he wants nothing more than for peace to come over our community."

"That may be true Miss Evans," McAdams stated, "But he doesn't want to be found and he tried to kill me on a recent trip to Egypt."

That threw Lily for a loop, her head shot up and her heart beat against her chest, "James—" she said breathlessly, "You saw him?"

"He put his wand to my chest and threatened me Miss Evans."

"You must've misunderstood—"

"I believe James Potter is a spy." McAdams said this so evenly but Lily was reeling as the words tumbled from his straight mouth, "He is an enemy to the Auror Department and an enemy to the Ministry. The only wizards who want me dead are the wizards who think _I_ am the reason for Voldemort's downfall."

"Who is responsible?" Lily shot back, "And does it matter? james isn't someone who wants Voldemort to come back, I assure you."

"And why is that, Professor?" he said the word Professor so, cynically, and it made Lily sick.

Lily pointed at herself, "James would never want to bring back a man who sought to kill me and my family and my friends." she sat up straight, wearing her pride like a crown, "That man was prepared to marry me before he had to disappear because _someone_ was attempting to kill him."

Something flashed behind McAdams' eyes, "You're so sure he loves you?" he challenged.

"Of course I do!"

"He hasn't contacted you in a long time Miss Evans."

"How dare you."

"I know he hasn't contacted you because you looked as if Merlin himself had walked through that door.

"I didn't—" her heart was pounding against he chest and she wanted nothing more than to reach cross her table and wipe her eyes across his smug face.

"If Potter loved you, don't you think he would've come back to you by now?"

Lily flinched, "He's not a death eater. He's not a spy. and he's coming back for me."

She turned on her heel and the girl, the one with the piercing grabbed her arm, a warning in her eyes, "You weren't dismissed."

Lily ripped her arm from the girl furiously, "I'm dismissing myself."

"You do realize I will be releasing the news to the press." McAdams' voice chilled her, "Everyone will know that your precious boyfriend was a traitorous fool…"

Lily turned back to glare at the Minister, "And when James finally returns and proves that he's innocent? What will you do then, Minister?"

"Oh, I'm not worried my dear," McAdams looked unimpressed, "Nothing's made Potter return yet."

Lily's heels clicked against the stone floor as she pushed through the double doors to the cafe.

While school was out Lily stayed with Sirius and Remus at a small flat they rented together in London. It was small but they managed to make it work. Lily slept in the bedroom on the large queen sized bed. Out in the sitting room there was a sofa that Remus crashed on when he wasn't going through the ups and downs of his werewolf tendencies. Sirius had a tendency to sleep wherever he fit. Sometimes he'd crash on the sofa when Remus wasn't around but then again, sometimes he just turned into his animals form, a giant black dog, and curled up at Remus' feet. Lily had also woken up to a large black dog sleeping on it's back at the foot of her bed more than once.

Lily was so mad, so blinded by her rage, that she didn't even realize she'd made it home to the flat. It wasn't until Remus and Sirius looked ups rom the table where they were playing cards that she broke down and collapsed to the floor.

"What happened?" Sirius grabbed her elbow and pulled her slightly to get a response, "What's going on Lily?"

"The Minister," Lily seethed, "Believes that James, _our_ James, is a Death Eater."

Sirius actually laughed, threw his head back and chortled, in disbelief, "He thinks what?!"

Lily motioned to the door behind her, "He dug up James' grave."

"He did what?" Remus asked, deplored, "Is that legal?"

"He's the Minister." Lily bemoaned, "I'm sure he gets to do whatever he bloody likes, including frame James for murder."

"On what base?" Sirius flexed his knuckles, looking ready to fight.

"Apparently," Lily pushed a bit of hair from her eyes flippantly, "James tried to kill the Minister on a trip to Egypt?"

"Thats bullshite!"

"That's what I said!" Lily pushed her hair from her eyes, "But McAdams was grilling me. it's like he wanted me to say that I knew where James was…that I knew what James was doing."

"Why would McAdams care about one Auror gone missing?" remus hadn't moved from the table, instead he was using his quick brain to establish a baseline to her story.

"I don't know." Lily threw up her hands, "But apparently whatever James' mission as, it's interfering with McAdams' life."

"How?"

"McAdams thinks James is trying to find a way to bring Voldemort back from the dead."

"Impossible." Sirius scoffed, "James would never."

"McAdams certainly believes he would!" Lily said, "How are we supposed to clear his name if he isn't even here to defend himself?"

"Evans," Sirius' eyes were blazing, "We have to get James back here stat."

"But how?" Lily asked forcefully, "You haven't been able to reach him with the mirror, Alice Longbottom said they lost his tracks weeks ago, and no letters I write ever reach him."

"I don't fucking know how to get his arse back onto this continent but we've got to before McAdams pulls whatever heist he's planning…"

"Why don't we try the mirror one more time?" Remus suggested, "If we can even reach him, it'd be help."

Lily nodded and pulled herself up off the floor. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she went to the bedroom at the back of the flat. It was amongst a pile of clothes Lily had yet to put away on top of her dresser that Lily found the mirror. Its silver handle was cold to the touch as she brought the mirror from her bedroom and out into the living area. Sirius looked up from the sofa when she entered, perking up even more when he saw what she'd retrieved.

"Try it once more." Lily begged Sirius, passing him the silver mirror with a slightly desperate toss.

Sirius lifted the mirror up and looked directly into it. Speaking loudly and clearly he spoke James' name once. Both Lily and Sirius waited with bated breath. The mirror was magic, and possessed a twin that belonged to James. If the mirror in Sirius' hand worked, James would hear Sirius' call through his own mirror and pick up.

Sirius said James' name one more time.

Nothing happened.

Lily's heart dropped, "What could he possible be doing that he won't answer us?"

Sirius looked at her worriedly, "He's clearly in hiding."

"What if McAdams was right," Remus said suddenly from his spot at the table, "What if James did try to kill the Minister?"

"Why would James do that?" Lily asked angrily, "He'd never risk fucking up his career like that."

"Unless there was a reason." Remus reminded Lily, "James as assigned to Peter and Regulus' case. We still don't know who killed Peter. We still don't know what happened to Regulus Black."

"You don't think McAdams killed them?" Lily asked, curling her legs up to her chest, "I mean, he was never labeled a Death Eater."

"The world isn't split up between good people and death eaters." Sirius said, "There's obviously something James knows—and something McAdams is trying to hide."

"So what do we do?" Lily asked.

"Find James." Sirius balled up his fists.

"How do you find someone who doesn't want to be found?"

The werewolf considered Sirius and Lily with heavily lidded eyes, his question echoing through Lily's head.

"He doesn't want us to be able to find him." Remus reminded them, "And we all know James is really good at staying hidden when he wants too. He once spent a week in the woods as Prongs when he broke his mums favorite vase."

Sirius frowned, remembering that particular incident, "Yeah, he only came back out because the Quidditch playoffs were in two days and he didn't want to miss the game."

"What a dork." Lily said, albeit affectionately, "He's always been such a loon when it comes to Quidditch."

"Quidditch and you." Sirius said with a small sigh, "You've managed to pull him out of hiding more than once after a bad day."

"Yeah well," Lily said moodily, remembering the Minister's words, "This is James' biggest bad day yet and I can't even get him to send me an sign that he's _alive_."

"That's because he knows you're okay," Sirius waved her worries away, "we all know he'd come running back with a vengeance if you ever ended up in the Hospital or anything as remotely as dramatic."

"Well I don't blame on chucking myself off cliffs to get his attention," Lily said sarcastically, "So we're going to have to think of something else."

Remus chuckled suddenly from his spot at the table, "I'd imagine James would show up tomorrow if he sees any more of _this_."

Remus lifted up the Daily Prophet and Lily was surprised to see herself, dressed in pretty robes and talking to Fabian on the page. Lily read the title and reached forward to snatch the paper from remus' hands, aghast.

 **The Professor & Prewett **

_By Rita Skeeter_

 _Last night I had the privilege of attending the Ministry Banquet. Among the guests, prestigious and old, were these two newly acquainted lovebirds. Professor Lily Evans of Hogwarts was seen flirting unabashedly with Professional Quidditch star Fabian Prewett. The two were seen talking and flirting with each other all night. The banter ended only after Prewett invited Evans to his games. Is romance in the air for Prewett? If so, Professor Evans better be ready for his flock of fangirls to send her a lot of howlers._

Sirius burst into laughter after he finished reading over Lily's shoulder, "Merlin! if James ever sees this, you're dead meat Evans."

"How could Skeeter write this garbage?" Lily spat, tossing the paper on the floor, "Fabian and I were just talking!"

"Let's owl this to James," Remus joked too, "He'll apparate within the hour with an engagement ring."

"I told him to give her the damn ring before he left."

Lily covered her eyes, "Ugh, this is awful. Poor Fabian, he probably regrets giving me those tickets. How did she find out? She's god awful and so many people read this shite!"

"If you actually go to one of Prewetts games you'd make first page news Evans—wait." Sirius froze in the middle of his joking, looking as if Christmas had come early, "That's it!"

"What's it?" Lily asked grumpily.

"Front page news, everyone talking…" Sirius had a calculating look, "Something to draw the attention away from James before the Minister can speak…something to draw James back…"

"I doubt me going to Fabian's quidditch game would draw enough attention away from the problems at the Ministry." Lily said flatly.

"No," Sirius agreed, "But a celebrity marriage might stall McAdams…and if you're the one getting married…well then James will have no choice but to show up like Prince Charming to sweep you off your bloody feet."

"I'm not following." Lily said, tilting her head at her friend, "Why would James come running for a proposal between celebrities?"

"He would if it was you doing the marrying." Remus enlightened, having caught on to Sirius' plan.

Lily snorted, "I'm hardly celebrity."

"You might not be." Sirius explained, "But damn well if Prewett isn't the darling of the sports world right now."

"Pardon?" Lily blinked at Sirius, "Have you gone insane?"

Sirius grabbed her shoulders, "Lily," he said, "Fabian is one of the most famous quidditch players in the world. You get engaged to him and everyone will be talking about it. News will travel. You'd be in all the papers. It's basically like a royal marriage in the wizarding world."

"You want me to marry Fabian?" Lily stumbled through the words, "But—but you can't stand him?"

"Fake marry." Sirius shook his head, "You get Fabian to fake marry you and the wizarding world will go insane."

"You think it'll work?" Lily asked doubtfully.

"Plan the whole god damn thing if you have too but James won't be able to resist the bait."

"This is assuming Prewett would actually agree to fake marrying Lily." Remus spoke up.

Lily's shoulders dropped, "true, how do I get a professional quidditch player to agree to fake marry me?"

Sirius' grey eyes twinkled, "Lucky for us, I can be pretty persuasive."

Lily chewed on her lip but considered her there options. Currently, Sirius' plan, although mad, seemed the one that would produce results the fastest…they just had to get Fabian to agree to the lie.

Using the tickets Fabian had given her, Lily went to one of the games wearing her best dress. Sirius and Remus accompanied her, there as moral support while she watched Fabian fly. She spent most of the game figuring out what she was going to say to Fabian. She had no idea where to even begin.

 _"Hey Fabian, so my boyfriend faked his death and is on the run from the law. I need you to marry me so that he'll come back."_

Nothing sounded too great when she practiced it in her head.

"Excuse me?" a snotty voice cut in, interrupting Lily's thoughts.

It was a young woman with scarlet lipstick and a parchment in her hands. Lily adjusted in her front row seat to scan her eyes over the quill poised magically on the page. The woman startled Lily when she reached out with a manicured hand.

"Rita Skeeter," the lady announced happily, "Daily Prophet reporter."

Lily heard Sirius cough into his hand next to her. Lily stared at Skeeter, unsure how to move forward with the conversation.

"You're Lily Evans." Rita said happily when Lily didn't answer, "Are you hear to see Fabian?"

Lily didn't answer but Sirius did, "She is."

Lily elbowed Sirius in the side and Sirius hissed in her ear, "Play along. James could read this."

Lily squared her jaw, "Erm, yes. He invited me."

Rita's perfectly plucked eyebrows rose at her, "Are you both seeing each other officially? The readers want to know."

Lily felt her cheeks redden, "Erm…"

"Of course everyone was devastated when your old beau died—young James Potter wasn't it?"

"Uh…"

"Nonetheless, Lily, I and the rest of the Daily Prophet want you to know that we are on your side. We just want to give the world the truth."

"Bullshite." Sirius coughed loud enough for Rita to hear.

Lily and Rita both shot Sirius looks. Rita's stare was more demon-like while Lily had made a motherly stare his way.

"Lily!"

A new voice entered the conservation with a gleeful ring. It was Fabian, wearing his quidditch robes and holding his broomstick. Lily was relieved at the sight of Fabian and she jumped up from her seat to push past Rita. Fabian drew her into a hug, an action that made Rita's quill to stat racing across it's parchment. Fabian spotted Sirius over Lily's shoulder and grinned.

"Black." Fabian winked when he pulled away from Sirius, "Nice leather jacket."

Sirius begrudgingly accepted the compliment, always a sod when it came to fashion.

"Remus Lupin as I live and breathe!" Fabian recognized Lily's other friend and instantly leaned over Sirius to shake Remus' hand.

"You look great Fabian." Remus offered Fabian kindly, "It's no wonder Hufflepuff cried when they lost you to the professionals."

Fabian laughed away Remus' compliment, "They cried because James Potter started winning all the games."

"True." Remus laughed back, "Can't say James missed you much when you left."

"Did you all know each other at Hogwarts," Rita interrupted the meeting, "How quaint."  
Fabian shot a glance at Rita, souring for a second before considering Lily kindly, "Why don't we all go out for dinner?"

Eager to get away from Rita and to get the awkward request over with, Lily nodded vigorously. Fabian met Lily and the boys at a small pub outside of the quidditch stadium after he was done showering. It was owned by a kind old Italian woman who offered them bread immediately after they sat down. Sirius looked upset when Fabian sat down next to him with a wide grin and a shoulder bump.

"How have you been," Fabian asked Lily as she passed Remus the butter for his bread, "You seemed a little stressed the last time we spoke."

Lily took a deep breath and looked at her fingers, "Well, yes, I was a little…overwhelmed."

"What about?" Fabian seemed curious, "Can I help?"

Lily lifted her eyes back to Fabian, "You can actually, but I won't be mad if you say no."

Fabian looked confused, "What is it?"

"I need you to marry me."

Fabians fork dropped tot he table. Remus stuffed his entire piece of bread into his mouth to avoid award conversation.

"You always were bad at explaining plans." Sirius grinned, raising his glass at Lily before chugging it.

The silence at the table was awkward. Lily chewed on her lip as Fabian regarded all three of them earnestly, as if waiting for one of them to laugh and say it was all a joke. When no one said anything Fabian cleared his throat.

"I think I misheard you."

"I was wondering if you could marry me?"

"You want me to _marry_ you?"

"I want you to fake marry me?" Lily winced, glancing at Remus for help.

Remus pointedly stuffed another piece of bread into his mouth and Lily sighed.

"Lily," Fabians voice was soft, "You're a very beautiful girl and great…but I can't marry you…I'm not—I mean—well I don't feel that way towards you."

"I know," Lily said urgently, "Fabian, it'd be fake…"

"That's what confuses me more." Fabian screwed up his face, "Why me? Why can't one of those two do it?" He pointed at Remus and Sirius.

Sirius flipped his eyebrows up, "Because I don't like girls."

"Because I don't believe in commitment." Remus followed with a shrug, "I can't even stay committed to the color of my socks in one day. James would laugh if he heard she was marrying me."

"Wait," Fabian's eyes narrowed, "James? isn't he dead."

"Well." Lily let her L's drag on for a short time and Fabian sighed deeply and slid downwards in his seat like he was suddenly very tired.

"James wouldn't show if I was suddenly engaged to one of them." Lily urged, "but you—Fabian you're my best leveraging tactic."

"A leverage?" Fabian tapped his fingers against the table.

"You've intimidated James since first year." Lily assured Fabian.

"Lily," Fabian stressed, "Potter is dead."

Lily shook her head, "No," she said, "James is alive and he's in trouble."

"Trouble?"

"The Ministry is going to label James a Death Eater if he doesn't get his arse back to England to defend himself." Lily explained, "We've tried everything. Nothings gotten through to him."

"So marrying me is your next best plan?" Fabian looked confused and really, Lily couldn't blame him.

"Everyone thinks James is dead." Sirius said, "I expect people won't know _what_ to believe when James Potter waltzes in to break up this engagement."

"Fabian," Lily begged, "This will only work with you."

"How so?" Fabian argued, "There's thousands of boys."

"I know it sounds crazy," Lily reasoned, "But if we get engaged it'd be in all the papers and everyone would be talking about it. It _might_ just have enough publicity to reach James, where ever he is."

"Gee, you're making this sound better and better." Fabian muttered, with a roll of his eyes, "Plan a fake wedding only to be murdered by the actual groom for stealing his girlfriend while he was faking his death."

"James wouldn't murder you." Lily, half told herself.

"He tried to knock me off my broom in every quidditch game we ever played against each other."

"I said murder," Lily pinched Fabians arm, "Not cause bodily harm."

Silence fell around the table again. Remus was staring at the empty bread basket, mourning he had no reason to keep his mouth full. Sirius was glancing between Fabian and Lily, grey eyes taking in everything crossing Lily's face. Fabian played with his paper napkin, looking anywhere but at the people he was dining with.

Lily chewed on her lower lip, "Please, Fab. You'll hardly have to do anything. I'll do it all. Just trust me."

Fabian swallowed, "My entire family will want to meet you."

"Deal." Lily said without thinking at all, "Fabian, I need to this to be as real as possible for James' sake."

"An engagement." Fabian said weakly, "Merlin, my publicist is going to murder me."

"Does that mean you'll help?" Lily asked, her eyes opening wide with wonder.

Fabian nodded, looking unsure if he really meant what he said.

"Rita Skeeter is going to loose her god damn mind." Sirius clapped his hands together as Fabian reached across the table to shake Lily's hand firmly. There was a flicker in Fabian's eyes that Lily didn't miss as they shook hands. A part of her wondered what Fabian was hoping to get out of it. What did he want that made the fake engagement enticing enough for him to agree?

The only problem was that she didn't care enough to ask Fabian because she was going to see James soon.

* * *

 **Next Time:**

"Come on." James muttered gruffly to Hanna.

"Where are we going?"

"To get this damn diary." James answered as the wedding announcement crumpled in his fist, "And then, we're crashing a wedding."


	5. Mine

"Impossible" was the first thing Horace Slughorn said when Hanna and James showed up on his doorstep at four in the afternoon two days later.

James pushed through the cracked front door making Slughorn stumble back into his hallway in surprise. James supposed it was a bit shocking, seeing a dead man walk into a house very much _not_ dead. The old man was too stunned to argue James' rude entrance, especially when Hanna entered behind James, a bright red smile worn especially for her old Professor. The more time James spent around Hanna, the more he was thankful for the witch. She was instinctive and charming. She made everyone around her more comfortable, James included.

"Hanna Mathis?"

"Hello, Horace." Hanna piped, leaning in to give Slughorn a kiss on the cheek as the door slammed shut unceremoniously behind her, "Good to see you again."

Slughorn stared past Hanna's brown hair at James, "You—I watched them _bury_ you."

James grinned his favorite lopsided grin, the one he'd use in school when he was in trouble, "Surprise, I'm alive!"

"He thinks he's drank too much mulled wine." Hanna told James with a impish swing of her hips in Slughorn's direction.

"This is like his personal nightmare." James told Hanna truthfully, "I wasn't his favorite, despite dating his favorite student."

"I always told Lily she could do better."

"And Lily always told him to shove off." James told Hanna proudly, "Old Sluggy hated it."

"I can see that." Hanna laughed, reading Slughorn's passing thoughts on James, "Did James really blow up a cauldron?"

"He blew up two." Slughorn cracked thickly, eyes bulging out of his head, "But I didn't hate him—"

Slughorn reached out with a hand to tap James' shoulder, as if to test if James was really there.

"Impossible." he bemoaned again, "You were _dead._ "

"Alive." James countered, "And very in need of your help."

"Why?" Slughorn looked as if he regretted ever opening his door, "And why did you come _here_?"

James crossed his arms and leaned against the stand in the hallway holding a potted plant and picture of Slughorn and one of his favorite students, "Remember a few years back when the Auror department asked you about horcruxes for the Pettigrew and Black cases?"

Slughorn's face drained of all its color, "I told you everything I knew."

"No," James disagreed, "Not everything."

"It's okay Horace." Hanna spoke suddenly in a calm voice, "James isn't here to accuse you of anything."

Slughorn turned to look at James' accomplice, who was wearing a cat hair covered scarf, "How are you here, and why with him?"

Hanna sighed dramatically, but playfully, "Well, honestly, a dead man showed up on my doorstep and asked for help."

Slughorn's shoulders dropped, "I need a drink." he said weakly, "I really thought this case was finished…and that _you_ were dead."

James grinned sheepishly, "Sorry to disappoint."

"How do I help you?"

"There's one horcrux left and the Minister wants it too so the more you tell me, the less of a chance we'll have of him looking for you."

The look on Slughorn's face told James that Slughorn had believed, truly, that Voldemorts horcrux's had been eliminated. Hanna stepped forward and placed a hand on Slughorn's arm, blocking James' insistent stare.

"Come on," Hanna said to Slughorn, "I'll make tea and James can ask his questions."

James sighed and followed his new partner and old Professor into a kitchen. The room was filled to the brim with pictures, letters, and newspapers. The kitchen table and the counters were covered in gifts from Slughorn's old students. In order to brew tea, Hanna had to move a pile of papers from the small stove. Some of the smaller letters fell to the floor, some of them unopened. Slughorn looked like he was about to be sick when James plopped into the chair right next to him.

"I'm too old for this Mr. Potter." Slughorn complained, "The rumors say you died double crossing the Ministry in the Pettigrew case."

"Fake news, obviously." James waved his hand flippantly, "The Minister is a fraud, the Pettigrew case never closed, and I'm still around to cause trouble."

"What's the last horcrux?" Slughorn rubbed his temples, "How many did Voldemort make?"

"He died trying to make his sixth." James explained, "But Dumbledore got to him first."

"Albus?" Slughorn looked suprised, "Why—the papers never said—in fact _Albus_ never told me."

"No one, not even the Ministry, knows that Dumbledore defeated Voldemort."

"Just like Grindlewald." Slughorn muttered to himself before reaching for a bottle filled with green pills and knocking one back.

James tapped his fingers on the table, "The last horcrux is a diary."

Slughorn froze like a animal spotted in the dark, "A _what_?"

"A diary." James repeated, "A magical diary purchased from Hanna's grandfather."

Hanna tucked her hair behind her ear as she continued busying herself at the stove, humming. Her humming stopped suddenly and she looked up from the kettle in suprise, staring at Slughorn.

"You bought the diary from my grandfather as a gift for that-that _man_?" she sounded offedned.

Slughorn's face flashed red, "I only knew the boy," Slughorn cautioned, "Not the dark wizard that he grew into."

"Did my grandfather know?" Hanna spoke up softly, "Did he know you gave the diary to that—that...to Voldemort?"

"No." Slughorn wrung his hands together, "The only people who knew about the dairy were the boys in the club back in day with To— _oh no..._ "

What color Slughorn had in his face drained suddenly and James' eyes narrowed as Hanna dropped the lid to the kettle in surprise as she read Slughorns mind.

"What?" James asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"

"James." James' eyes swiveled to Hanna, "Minister McAdams was _there_ the day Horace gave Tom Riddle the diary."

James' blood ran cold and without even pausing James started placing silencing spells and protection spells on the flat. Slughorn was chewing on his nails, his gut moving in and out quickly as he hyperventilated.

"McAdams hasn't questioned you yet?" James asked Slughorn, "He hasn't asked you _anything_?"

"No," Horace said with short bursts of breath, "No, he has always been kind to me. He sends me brandy every Christmas."

James ran his fingers over his wand as he thought for a moment, "Why though?" James demanded to the room, "Why wouldn't McAdams confront Slughorn if he knew Slughorn gave Voldemort the diary?"

It was Hanna who spoke up next, "What if the Minister doesn't know that Horace knows what horcrux's are?"

Old Sluggy looked at Hanna and then turned to James indignantly, "She doesn't know, does she?"

James shook his head, "Not entirely. I asked her to help."

"Is there something I should know?" Hanna asked, "Like _what_ a horcrux is?"

Slughorn put his head in his hands, "It's a dark object; a reflection of a wizards soul."

"So," Hanna deduced, "We're looking for a piece of Voldemort's soul."

"Yes." James' fist curled, "I'm finishing what Peter Pettigrew and Regulus Black started."

Hanna lifted the teapot off the burner, her face screwed up in concentration as she read James' mind and learned of the tragic downfall of Pettigrew and Black through his thoughts.

"They died." her voice faltered.

"They didn't know how to properly dispose of the horcrux." James explained, "It was too late and not even Dumbledore couldn't save them."

"Do _you_ know how to get rid of horcrux's boy?" Slughorn eyed James, "Do you have _any_ idea what you've gotten yourself into?"

"Dumbledore told me if I ever found one to bring it to him."

"Leave all of this up to Dumbledore, Potter." Slughorn said gruffly, "I'm sure he'd be happy to know you were alive…Lily too…"

James grew prickly at the mention of his girlfriend, "Lily knows I'm alive."

Slughorn seemed surprised by his cool answer, "She does?"

"Of course she does." James said sincerely, "I just can't go and see her, McAdams has her being watched."

"Doesn't Lily deserve to know she'd being watched?"

"I can't waltz up to her and pretend that none of this is real."

Hanna understood James instantly, "You'd quit this whole mission? Just because you caught a glimpse of her?"

James tilted his head at Hanna, "I've spent months without Lily and I'm not brave enough to say goodbye to her ever again."

Hanna pitied him, "You've got it bad, mate."

"She is the best thing that's ever been mine."

The teapot was steaming and it made all three of them jump. Slughorn fiddled with papers in front of him, looking suddenly uncomfortable. James couldn't blame the old man, he had never been a fan of James to begin with. Sure, Slughorn hadn't hated James but the two had never seen eye to eye. When James had interrogated him on the horcrux case at the start, in fact, they had both butted heads.

"Potter," Slughorn said, "I'm only helping you because I don't want that horcrux to fall into the wrong hands."

"I'll make sure it gets right to Dumbledore." James replied sincerely, "Just tell me where to find the damn thing."

Slughorn sighed and leaned forward in his chair, "A few months back there were rumors that the Malfoy family had been searched, their entire mansion ripped apart."

"Did they find anything?"

"That's the thing, old McShodden said they didn't find an ounce of dark magic in that mansion. Nothing they could arrest the Malfoy's on at least and Malfoy Senior claimed his son had been _forced_ to be in the Death Eaters."

"Coward." James spat.

"People would do anything to protect those that they love." Hanna interjected James' comment with a stiff appearance.

Slughorn's eyes shifted to Hanna as she set a cuppa down in front of him with a half smile, "Thanks Hanna, my dear."

Hannah passed James his cuppa while asking, "If they didn't find anything at the malfoy mansion then what's the big deal?"

"The only reason I started paying attention to the conversation was when McShodden's intern chimed in." Slughorn admitted, "Arthur Weasley claimed he'd done a detection spell on the old thing and the spell ricocheted off and broke a chandelier that Malfoy was calling for poor young Weasley to fix for weeks afterwards."

"A normal diary would never have a spell ricochet off it." James rubbed his chin methodically, "Malfoy's are known Death Eaters. What if Voldemort gave the Malfoy family the diary for safe keeping?"

"Yeah but if Malfoy had the diary this whole time how would Minister McAdams not just go up to Malfoy Manor and say that he wanted the diary?" Hanna questioned.

"Because McAdams doesn't _know_ Malfoy has it." James realized, "And Malfoy doesn't know what he's got in his bookshelves either."

"So what do you want to do? Go storming into Malfoy's mansion and steal a diary?" Hanna half laughed, "Merlin, Abraxus Malfoy would take one look at you and send you out on your arse."

"How would you know?" James glared at Hanna.

"I dated his son." Hanna grinned, "Before Lucius got engaged to some Black sister."

"You dated a _Malfoy_?" James screwed his face up, "why?"

Hanna tossed her long brown hair, "I'll admit he wasn't the _best_ boyfriend but he did give me some nice gifts. I still have this beautiful diamond earring set—"

James stared at Hanna, feeling as if he'd just down into another dimension. He liked Hanna. She seemed smart, witty, and kind. How could she have dated someone like Malfoy? The entire family was built up on a legacy of getting sorted into Slytherin and torturing local muggles in their free time.

Hanna waved her hand in front of James' face, "If you must know, I was Slytherin."

"You were a Slytherin!" James yelped.

Hannah rolled her eyes as she read every thought crossing James' mind, "Merlin, you're a judgmental arse."

Slughorn chuckled, "James regularly got into fights with one of my favorite Slytherins."

"Who?"

"Severus Snape."

"Ugh," Hanna suddenly redeemed herself with a wrinkle of her nose, "He started my last year. He was weirdly obsessed with this girl in Gryffindor…"

"Lily." James said suddenly and Hanna's mind passed through his old thoughts and memories.

Hanna's face contorted, "Wow." she said taking a sip of her tea, "He grew up to be an even bigger asshole than I thought possible."

James decided then that he shouldn't have been so quick to judge Hanna for being a Slytherin—she clearly had her priorities straight. James imagined she and Regulus Black would've gotten along well.

"I bet I can get us into Malfoy manor." Hanna told James, "Bu you'll have to do a better disguise. Slughorn took one look at you and knew."

Slughorn broke into he conversation suddenly, "I would imagine that silly diary would be the last of your worries, James."

"Why?" James asked, "I get the diary and everything can go back to normal, Voldemort's gone for good.."

"Well, yeah, but I would've thought you'd be running for Cokesworth."

"Why the bloody hell would I be running for Cokesworth?"

Slughorn reached into a pile of letters, "it's all over the papers, she's getting married."

"Who's getting married?"

"Lily."

James was so caught off guard he actually had the gall to ask, "Lily who?"

Slughorn eyed James like he wasn't sure if James was joking, "Lily Evans."

The laugh that bubbles out of James throat was strangled "married? She's not getting married."

He lifted his head out of his hands to see that Slughorn actually looked almost like he pitied James as he held out a slip of paper. James didn't want to take it but curiosity got the best of him so he yanked the slip from Slughorn's hands. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to read the flowery lettering and see the name. It took five seconds for his face to go red and five more seconds for him to process what the words were telling him.

 _Mr. & Mrs. Brad Prewett request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their son_

 _Fabian Prewett_

 _to_

 _Lily Evans_

 _Saturday the 17th of September At 11 O'Clock in the morning at The Maritime Chapel just outside of Cokesworth._

"What the _Hell_ is she playing at?" James grumbled, pushing his fingers through his hair and looking around the kitchen in despair, "Is she fucking trying to _kill_ me? _Married_?"

"Whose Fabian Prewett?" Hanna asked, having read their minds, "His name sound familiar."

James chucked the wedding announcement on the table, feeling sick, "Fabian Prewett is a fucking pro quidditch player. He was a few years ahead of me in school and Hufflepuff quidditch champion."

"Ah," Hanna said as she poured herself anther cup of tea, "Now I remember, he was a bit younger than me. Crushed Slytherin several times in quidditch but his good looks made him irresistible."

James crossed his arms like a small child, "This is a fucking nightmare."

"Shouldn't you be happy that Lily's happy?" Hanna asked pointedly, "Any girl marrying a pro quidditch player would be lucky, they make so much money."

"The git gave me detention every chance he could get in school." James complained, "And took the cup from Gryffindor until he graduated. I can't believe she's marrying _him_."

"They met at the ministry awards banquet." Slughorn told James, "Lily won teacher of the year."

"Wasn't the awards banquet like, yesterday?" James complained.

"No," Slughorn looked confused, "It was almost two months ago."

"Two months ago!" James exclaimed, "And he's _marrying_ her?"

"Lily told me over tea a few weeks ago that he didn't wait long to pop the question…"

"Hanna," James turned to his companion in confusion, "Exactly how old was that paper you showed me at your flat?"

"I dunno," Hannah stirred her tea with her finger, "I don't keep up with the news religiously, so probably a few weeks."

"Fuck." James leaned back into his chair, feeling as if the pressure in the room was crushing his lungs.

"To be fair," Slughorn stuck up for Lily, "Lily _did_ personally bury your coffin."

"The casket was empty." James brushed Slughorn's comment away, "She knows I was alive."

"Knew." Slughorn interrupted with a thin line growing on his forehead

"What do you mean, _knew_?" James snapped.

"There were rumors," Slughorn said, "Nothing official…but the Aurors dug up your grave and found it empty. The Minister of Magic is apparently saying you tried to kill him."

" _What_?" James exclaimed, "What the Hell has been going on in this god forsaken country while I've been gone?!"

"A lot apparently." Hanna said unhelpfully, "Since your supposed girlfriend is getting married in two days and you're a fugitive."

"Two days!" James' hands grabbed at the roots of his hair, "Two days?!"

"Says so right here." Hanna showed James a newspaper in her hands, "Rita Skeeter is rather excited about it."

Slughorn confessed, "Rita Skeeter has blown the wedding up into a huge big deal. Anyone whose anyone will be at that wedding. The Minister included, though Lily told me, he invited himself."

James squinted his eyes to look at the picture accompanying the wedding taglines. Front page and center was Lily smiling on the arm of Fabian Prewett. She wore a pretty sundress and her eyes were looking up at Fabian with a brilliant smile covering her face. A giant ring was on her finger and Fabian had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Fabian stared at the camera like he was holding a quidditch cup. Lily was staring at Fabian like she was in love.

James felt like he was in a really bad dream. James was trying to think, trying to do anything, besides panic. A string of curse words continued falling from his mouth as he tried to think fast.

"Son, there's nothing you can do." Slughorn said darkly, "Lily's getting married to Fabian."

"She'll marry Fabian over my dead body." James threatened, slamming his fist down on his thigh.

"Technically she is." Hanna hummed and James shot a glare in her direction.

"What are you going to do?" Slughorn snorted, "Walk into the wedding of the year, unannounced, and proclaim your undying love for her?"

"That's _exactly_ what I'm going to do. _Fuck_." James cursed again, glancing down at the wedding announcement and then picking it up just so his fingers could trace Lily's name desperately.

She couldn't get married to Faban Prewett of all fucking people. Sure, he was a big name quidditch player and the two had been friends at school…but Lily was James' best friend and the woman _James_ planned to marry. He'd been planning to marry her since they were seventeen. Lily wouldn't leave him for Fabian, not without a good as Hell reason. Maybe she really _did_ believe he was dead, after all _Sirius_ would never let her marry just anyone. Sirius and Remus would never let Lily marry someone they didn't think was deserving of her.

James had to get to the wedding.

James also had to destroy the last horcrux.

"Are you ready?" James asked Hanna suddenly and frantically.

"Where are we going boss?" Hanna asked, chugging the last of her tea and placing the china on the counter by a letter stack higher than the fishbowl beside it.

"We're going to get this damn diary." he stood up with a fierce look in his eyes, "and then we're crashing a god damn wedding."

"This is way more exciting than palm readings." Hanna laughed excitedly, glancing sideways at Slughorn, "Want to join us Horace?"

"No." Slughorn looked upset, "The both of you should just stop. It's dangerous what you're doing and you'll—you'll both end up in Azkaban."

"I wasn't made to fall in line and let some asshole try and take over the world." James tipped an imaginary hat at Slughorn, "Thanks for the information Slughorn. See you at the wedding."

"Lily chose someone else Potter," Slughorn said worriedly, "Do you really want to ruin the happiest day of Lily's life when she clearly wants to move on?"

"Let's give her the option to choose first, yeah?" James shot back, "If we had broken up when I left, if she had said _'I won't wait for you_ ' then I wouldn't blink twice but she didn't so I won't give up on us."

"You broke up the second she buried your casket, fake or not."

"Listen Sluggy," James said insensitively, "Lily and I, we never had a chance to get married safely because some asshole tried to take over the world, in the process killing our best friends and leaving a wake of devastation in our government. So I'm gonna give her a fucking chance to marry me _before_ she marries anyone else."

"She thinks you're dead." Slughorn reminded James, "We all thought you were dead."

"If I were dead," James said, "Sebastian McAdams would be pushing my god damn body bag past every Auror in the god damn department to scare them away from finishing my job."

"What _is_ your job?" Slughorn asked, "You're no longer working under the Auror department."

"Actually," Hanna spoke up, with a weird look at James, "That's true. If everyone thinks that you're dead, who are you working for?"

James didn't have the clearance to tell either of them about the Order of the Pheonix. Only Dumbledore, the secret keeper, could tell them. There were only thirteen members in the Order and the two people in front of James were not one of the thirteen.

But Slughorn seemed to know it didn't matter and Hanna could read his mind. The witch in the scarf looked even more confused as the words crossed James' mind. "Come on, we've got twenty-four hours." He motioned for Hanna to follow him, "We get to Malfoy, we get to the diary."

"Keep Hanna safe!"

James didn't answer, his feet were carrying him to the front door. Hanna followed but she kept a little behind James, her feeling scurrying across the floor at a pace to match up to his.

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" Hanna hissed as the front door closed behind James, "Why were you trying to hide that from me?"

"It's not my place to tell you." James hissed back.

"Just like it wasn't you place to tell me what you were really looking for?" Hanna grabbed his wrist so that he stopped on the sidewalk and was forced to look back and see she was angry, "You keep forgetting I can read your mind, Potter, and I don't like that you try to keep things from me when you're the one who asked for my help in the first place."

"The more people who know," he said, "The more people could get hurt."

"I'm one person." Hanna said firmly, "And I'm on your side—even if you hold an incredible amount of hatred for my house."

James scoffed, "I don't hate your house, I'm just not fond of the people in it."

Hanna sighed, looking tired, "Granted, we don't have the best track record but we're not _all_ bad you know."

James looked her up and down, the witch who wore cat hair proudly on her scarves and read muggle palms for a living despite being a very powerful witch. Her normally cherry disposition had made James automatically imagine her as a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor. Hanna smirked when she saw the other houses pass across his thoughts.

"The sorting hat considered Gryffindor." she admitted, "But I asked to be in Slytherin."

"Why?"

Hanna tilted her head at James, "To be in the same house that my father was in." she explained, "Family legacy was everything to my Grandfather."

"What house was your mum in?" James asked.

"My mum was a Ravenclaw." Hanna said, "What about your family?"

"All Gryffindors." he remembered how proud his parents had been the day they'd found out he'd been sorted into Gryffindor.

"A legacy." she said with a short and pointed nod, "Every family has one."

James looked down at the sidewalk before saying, "Sorry for jumping to conclusions."

"It's okay." Hanna told him kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You can make it up to me later, right now we need to get into Malfoy Manor."

James' face fell even more, "How _are_ you going to do this?"

Hanna heard herself up a bit taller and sent James a wicked smirk, "Lucky for you, I'm an old family favorite."

"But how do _I_ get in there?" James gestured at himself, "As you pointed out earlier, I am the farthest thing from an old family friend."

"Nothing a bit of magic can't fix." Hanna said, her eyes scanning his face, "How do you feel about a flatter nose?"

"Erm?"

But it was too late. Hanna had drawn out her wand and was tracing his features with the tip of the wooden stick. She had her eyes focused and he could feel his skin moving and stretching slightly at her touch.

"Transfiguration was my second best subject." she boasted as she morphed him, "After divination, of course."

"Transfiguration was my favorite class." James said as, next, Hanna transfigured his clothes to a darker green shade.

"Was it?"

"I'm an animagus." James said and Hanna's fingers stopped guiding her wand so she could stare at him, intimidated.

"No way!" she said in awe, "James that's really complicated magic!"

"Not as impressive as reading minds."

"Still impressive." Hanna said with a short shake of her head, "Merlin, what I would've given to be taught that magic."

"I was self taught."

"stop it." Hanna pushed him in disbelief, "Self taught?"

James laughed and stumbled back at bit, "Yeah, I was a bit of an obnoxious overachiever in school."

But Hanna had that look on her face, the one where she was reading every thought in his head and her face softened, "You didn't do it for that," she whispered suddenly, even more impressed, "You did it for your friend."

James' gaze softened too, "That's also a secret, just so you know."

Hanna shook her head at James, "I cannot believe Lily ever let a bloke like you go five feet from her side, I'd be too worried about some other girl snatching you up."

James flushed darkly, "She knows I've only ever had eyes for her."

Hanna didn't expect that answer, "You've never been with anyone else."

"My place has always been at her side."

Hanna whistled, "She's totally marrying the wrong man."

James shrugged, embarrassed at the turn of the conversation. Hanna caught his discomfort and changed the subject back to something easier to swallow than how much James wished he hadn't ever left Lily.

"Come on, let's go to Malfoy Manor."

Hanna was an expert on all things Malfoy. She knew the exact road to apparate on so that they could walk towards the mansion undetected. James had checked himself in her handheld mirror, he was unrecognizable with a curly beard and long curly hair. She'd flattened is nose and temporarily, his glasses were tucked into his pocket. Of course, without glasses he could only make out bits and pieces of the Malfoy Manor. The thing that caught his eye the most were beautiful male peacocks sitting on iron wrought gates that led up to the mansion.

"This place is so—" James lacked a word for how bog and godly the mansion felt.

"I know." Hanna grinned as she led them up to the front door and knocked, pretty loudly, with one of the iron knockers on the door.

Hanna reached down to grab James' hand the minute the door cracked open and a house elf peered out at them. The house elf had wide green eyes and large batlike ears that perked up when Hanna said hello cheerily. James waited for a wand to get pointed into his throat when the door opened wider but it was just the house elf, using all his might to push the door open wide enough for two people to fit through.

"Mistress Hanna!" the elf looked as if Christmas had come early, "What an surprise! Master Malfoy will be excited to see you."

"Thank you Dobby." Hanna's voice had changed now, it was powerful and cool, giving off the image of a queen attending to her subjects.

James was so thrown off by her suddenly regal characterization that he missed the elf bowing at him.

"Pardon?" James asked, stupidly.

Hanna picked James' arm, "Jim, darling." she said with a forced smile, "The elf asked if you'd like a glass of mulled mead."

"Oh, erm," James said, "No thank you."

The elf bowed again, "I'll escort you both to the sitting room."

It was easy as walking into a grocery market. James and Hanna strode for threadbare carpets in the large mansion without a second glance in their direction by the portraits or other elves. The elf guiding them, Dobby, stopped only when he'd reached a double set of glass doors.

"Through here," the elf opened one of the doors proudly, "I shall fetch Master Malfoy."

Hanna smiled kindly at the eld before tugging James with her through the door, "Thank you Dobby."

"Pleasure Mistress," the elf bowed again, "But please forgive me and understand Master Malfoy has been under the weather recently can doesn't like visitors to stay long."

Hanna nodded shortly and when the elf was out of earshot she whispered to James, "Take a breath, Auror Potter, we're just old friends making a house call."

James tried to suck in a breath but for some reason he couldn't be calm. He felt as if he'd walked into the lair of a dragon and there were traps everywhere. James' eyes naturally darted to all the exits he could make an escape through. Hanna pinched his arm.

"Don't worry." she forced him to sit next to her on a green sofa, "Just trust me."

The room the elf had bought them into was covered in portraits of blonde witches and wizards. There were a lot of portraits of a young man with a strong jaw and long silvery hair. He looked positively evil, his mouth curled into a simper of a smile in each portrait.

Suddenly, the glass door reopened and a man, hunched over a cane, entered chuckling loudly.

"If I didn't have my glasses on," he exclaimed, hands shaking as he moved forward slowly, "I'd think I were dreaming."

"Abraxus." Hanna stood up, letting James sit awkwardly on the sofa alone as she swept towards the old man and kissed his cheek warmly, "You're looking younger than ever."

Abraxus laughed but his laugh quickly turned to a cough that he covered with a shaking hand while his other hand supported him on the cane. Hanna kept a hand on his shoulder as he coughed and James saw real concern flash across her face as she observed the old man.

"Is Lucius here?" Hanna asked when Abraxus stopped coughing, "Perhapes you shouldn't be out of bed."

"Nonsense." Abraxus waved her worries away, "Lucius and Narcissa are in France and I am a lonely old man, come, we'll have tea."

"France." Hanna said softly, "That's quite far."

"Narcissa lost another baby." the old man said gruffly, "She's beside herself."

James felt so weird, sitting in the house of people who had killed and tortured friends and family in all the wars. He was in the belly of the beast, as old Aurors used to say during heists. James found it so weird that even villains, ever so quick to follow the wrong path, had their own normal human struggles too.

It took two house elves to help the old wizard dressed in a thick bathrobe into the chair beside the sofa. When Abraxus had settled in his eyes finally registered that Hanna did not travel alone. Hanna sat down next to James, capturing his hand again. James jumped a bit at the contact but didn't shy away as Abraxus' eyes scanned James up and down.

"This is my husband Jim," Hanna spoke before James could ruin everything, "Jim Rosier."

"So you married a Rosier." the old man smiled and the sight was a little frightening, seeing as he lacked teeth in his gums, "I always told my son he let a good one go but at least you stayed in a good bloodline."

Hanna only smiled, James thought he saw a look of disbelief cross her face. Luckily, before anything else could happen three more house elves swept into the room and delivers hot tea and crumpets. James was surprised at the quick service of the elves but he also thought he saw some marks on the skin of the one closest to him. James' parents had a house elf when he grew up but they never once struck her.

Uncomfrotable, James shifted in his eat but that only made Abraxus speak to him.

"So, Jim, where do you work?"

"Dragons," James deadpanned, "Egypt."

"No wonder you've stopped making house calls." Abraxus teased Hanna kindly, "Egypt."

"You'll have to visit sometime." hanna said kindly, "It's warm and we have a balcony that overlooks _uhm_ , a river."

James raised an eyebrow at Hanna, who had never been to Egypt once in her life. Luckily, Malfoy seemed to buy her lie. He lifted a shaking teacup to his frail lips, taking a sip. James bit into a crumpet after inspecting it quickly for poison…or whatever else his brain had invented out of paranoia. Hanna squeezed his hand pointedly when he thought about poison and he felt foolish.

"Abraxus," Hanna said, "Jim needs to use the restroom, where would that be?"

"I barely know." Abraxus laughed, "I'd lose my head if it weren't attached. Jim, you feel free to find it."

"Thanks." James hopped up a little too quickly and almost knocked over the tea. Hanna shot him a glare but diverted Abraxus back into a conversation about some author in Transfiguration. James left the sitting area and let his eyes take in the large entranceway with a bit of apprehension. He had no idea where to find a diary but his eyes spotted someone who might. It was the house elf who had opened the door, the one with the green eyes.

"Excuse me." James spoke and the elf turned to James instantly.

"Can Dobby help you sir?" The elf squeaked with a bow.

"Yeah," James nodded, "Abraxus asked me to grab a book for him, do you know where I could find a library?"

"There's a bookshelf in Masters study." the elf said, "Dobby cannot read but he can take you to the shelf?"

"That would be perfect." James said, relief flooding through him, "Thank you."

The elf was all too happy to help. He made James follow him up a set of stairs into a long hallway filled with burning candles. Most of the doors were shut except for a door at the far end of the hall. Dobby led him past the open door and James assumed they were goin to run into the wall when the wall dissolved before his very eyes. The mansion had hidden walls. James suddenly knew how the Ministry never found any dark artifacts. He was in the Malfoy study and there were more dark artifacts than James could count.

James pulled his glasses out of his pocket and applied them on his nose. The better vision allowed him to take in his surroundings slowly and methodically. There were werewolf hides and cursed jewels in a case by the desk. A large white gauntlet sat atop a stack of books in the corner and he thought he saw an animal of some sort scurry beneath the desk. Dobby didn't even blink twice as he pointed out a black bookshelf covered in a layer of dust.

"Master?" Dobby broke through James' surprise, "Any of these ones?"

"We'll see." James breathed, taking two giant steps to start scanning the shelf.

There were books of curses, hexes, and dark magic. There were trinkets of varying size that looked quite dangerous. A snakeskin was hanging off a book that hummed a low tune. It was towards the bottom of the shelf that James' hart almost left out of his chest.

"Thats it!" James whispered excitedly, getting on his hands and knees to pull the diary out from between two old potions books.

The dragon hide in his hands was hard but supple. James could feel something coming from it, a magic that made his toes curl in his shoes. James flipped the diary open to the first page and he was rewarded with the words T. M. Riddle etched into it. James glanced back at the elf.

"Thank you!" he said, "This is it!"

"No thank you, Master." the elf bowed, "Master Malfoy doesn't get many friends stopping by anymore. It is nice of you and Mistress Hanna to visit."

Once again, James was surprised at the normalcy of the world inside the mansion. He didn't know why he had expected Death Eaters to be piping out of every corner of the old mansion. He didn't know why it surprised him so much to find a old man alone and missing his family. James had always assumed that Death Eaters and their families spent their time plotting ways to kill muggles and muggleborns. The old man who greeted James when he reentered the sitting room was far from evil; he was just lonely.

Hanna glanced at James as he sat down and hissed, "Glasses!"

James rushed to take his glasses off and place them back in his robes, right next to the diary, which felt like it was burning a hole in his heart. Hanna, it seemed, had a hard time leaving. Even after James had whispered that he'd gotten the diary in her ear, she continued asking Abraxus questions and keeping the conversation moving. James, although no longer worried about being attacked by Death Eaters, still hated wasting time. Abraxus however, enjoyed every second of their company. When Hanna finally admitted they hd to leave, Abraxus tried to have them stay longer.

"I'll have the elves prepare a pheasant." the old man enticed them kindly, "I've got some fancy wine from the Italian family vineyard that we can crack open."

"That's so kind of you, Abraxus." and Hanna sounded like she meant it as she stood up and brushed at her robes, "But Jim and I have a uhm, meeting in Egypt."

"If you must go." Abruxus stood up to so that he could shake James' hand with a frail grip, "Nice to meet you Mr. Rosier."

"Thank you." James lied, "You have a beautiful house."

"You and Hanna will have to come back to visit when Narcissa and Lucius return." Abraxus seemed enthralled at the thought, "We'll have a party, I am sure."

After a few more pleasantries exchanged, Hanna and James walked out of the Malfoy property without even a scratch. By the time they'd reached the closest town, James was half mad and half giddy as he pulled the diary from inside his robes to show Hanna.

"I can't believe how easy that was." he said, "You were amazing!"

Hanna giggled and flushed from his compliment, "Abraxus has always loved me. It would've been harder if Lucius was home."

James hugged Hanna, "I couldn't have done this without you."

Hanna laughed against his hold, "You would've found a way, I'm sure."

James pulled back and looked down at the diary, "Are you ready to end this?"

Hanna nodded, "Let's go see Dumbledore."

It took them a bit of time to walk to the castle once James had gotten them outside the parameter. James transfigured his looks back as they moved swiftly through the night. He didn't manage to make much progress on his hair it seemed, his beard had only gotten shorter, instead of disappearing. Luckily, almost everything else seemed back to normal. He even changed his robes back to an dark grey.

It took them much longer than he'd anticipated to get into Hogwarts even when James did the leading. The old school was filled with secret passageways and moving staircases. Anyone, including Professors, could get lost insider's riding halls. Luckily for James, he'd mapped the entire school by the time he was sixteen. He maneuvered through the halls, unspotted, Hanna at his heels. The diary was hot in his hands as he ran up the stairs to the Headmaster's Office and practically broke down the door.

James was rewarded with a small smile from an skinny old man sporting a bright white beard.

"And here I thought I'd lost you-I should've known." Dumbledore said but he was stopped short when Hanne entered the door behind James, eyes bright.

"You remembered Hanna Mathis, right?" James asked airily, "She just walked me in and out of a pureblood mansion without a scratch on either of our heads."

Dumbledore stood up and came around his desk, "Did you find it then?" he asked, "The last horcrux?"

James raised the diary in his hand and Dumbledore smiled proudly, "Well _done_ James."

James crossed the room in three strides and happily handed over the diary, "It took a while, but I got it, thanks to Hanna."

"Pettigrew and Black would be proud if they could see you now." Dumbledore said kindly before looking at Hanna over James' shoulder, "Miss Mathis it is lovely to see you again."

"Professor." Hanna looked flushed but James assumed it was from the running.

Dumbledore brought the book over to his desk and placed it down. James and hanna watched as Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at the book, whispering an incantation. James and hanna both yelped and jumped back when all of a sudden, Dumbledore's wand sent out huge bursts of fire. The fire wrapped around the book and James watched as all of a sudden ink started spraying all over the room, covering them all in the black particles. Dumbledore had his eyes closed, ink running down his face like blood from a laceration. the fire rings grew tighter and tighter around the book until the ink started vanishing before their very eyes.

Finally, after was seemed like several long minutes, the fire stopped and the ink had disappeared. Even Dumbledore didn't have a trace of ink on his skin despite being soaked before James' very eyes. there were a few moments of silence and them Hanna spoke.

"Did you break the horcrux?"

Dumbledore looked very tired as he replied, "Yes Miss Mathis, the diary is only a diary now."

James, euphoric, whooped and turned to swing Hanna into a large hug. Hanna laughed as he twirled her in circles, cheering. He spun her so fast that her scarf was becoming undone and the bracelets on her arms jingled. Even Dumbledore laughed at James' childish antics, clearly amused from James' pure joy. James set Hanna down only to press his fingers into his hair, pushing the black strands back in disbelief. It was all over. The horcruxes were destroyed. Voldemort was finished for good. James finished what his friends had died for.

It felt surreal.

"It's over." he said outloud, confirming what he was thinking, "We've destroyed the last horcrux _before_ the Minister could get it."

Dumbledore leaned against his desk, "The world can truly sleep in peace tonight. I'll make sure to call upon the rest of the Order members."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Hanna said from behind James, "But it's dawn and we don't have time to take a nap or go notify anyone."

Dumbledore and James looked at Hanna in confusion. Hanna tapped an imaginary watch on her wrist.

"There's a wedding at eleven."

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore hummed, "The Prewett wedding; I'm surprised you aren't racing for Evans' affection right now, James."

"Well, there's a slight problem," Hanna looked between Dumbledore and James when both looked unconvinced, "Everyone still thinks James is a traitor thanks to the Minister, who also happens to be going to this wedding."

"Everyone also thinks I'm dead." James reminded Hanna, "That could work in my favor."

Hanna furrowed her brow, "how?"

"The element of surprise." James looked at Dumbledore, "Think I could borrow that diary?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at James, "I'm assuming you have a plan?"

James grabbed the diary from Dumbledore, flexing it's pages with a wicked smirk, "McAdams threatened to kill my friends if I ever showed my face again in England." he explained, "Unless, of course, I gave him this diary."

"It doesn't have the horcrux anymore." Hanna said, "It's worthless."

James adjusted his glasses, "Yeah, but McAdams doesn't know that."

"It's risky." Dumbledore warned James as he tucked the leather bound diary into his robes, "McAdams could have you arrested on the spot."

"I have another trick up my sleeve."

"What's that?" Dumbledore asked.

Hanna, who had been scanning James' mind for answers, realized exactly what James was counting on.

"Me." Hanna sat up straighter and proudly tucked her scarf around her neck, "He's got _me_."

* * *

 **Next time:**

"If Rita Skeeter asks me one more time if I'm pregnant with your child." Lily hissed through her teeth to Fabian, "I'll hex her green."

Fabian chuckled softly and winked at her, "remember this is all your fault."

"No," she disagreed, "It's James' fault, the bloody hero. It's been two weeks since our engagement announcement! I can't _believe_ he hasn't shown up yet."

"Guess we're going to have to move the wedding up." Fabian teased and then backtracked when he saw Lily expression, "Oh Evans, no…please don't say…"

"How about two weeks from now?" she cut him off seriously.

Fabian pressed his spare hand to his forehead, "Merlin, you're hopeless."

"Hopelessly in love." she fluttered her eyelashes at him over her ice cream.

Fabian rolled his eyes, "Yeah, okay, but I swear to Merlin…if I make it up to the alter in two weeks and that idiot still hasn't shown—"

"He'll show." Lily said firmly, "And if he hasn't by the time they ask if anyone objects, you can feel free to walk right out on me."

"Leave you standing up at the alter?" Fabian grinned weakly, "What a publicity nightmare."

Lily snorted, "No more a publicity nightmare than me running out of the church in the arms of my dead boyfriend."

"True."


	6. Sparks Fly

**Chapter 6: Sparks Fly**

If the engagement party was anything to go by, Lily had a feeling she was going to need a strong drink (or three) before the actual wedding.

The first drink would be all thanks too Fabian's Great Aunt Martha Prewett. Lily absolutely despised the 90 year old witch with all her heart. Aunt Martha was a angry woman who happened to love the Minister as if he were Merlin's gift to the community. Aunt Martha talked up mcAdams every chance she got and because Lily often spoke out against the Minister in great detail, Aunt Martha spent every family meeting convincing Fabian that marrying Lily was quite possibly the worst decision he'd ever made. As great as that made Lily feel, she tried to ignore Aunt Martha at any family functions but tonight, an family birthday party she swore she was seating two seats away from Aunt Martha because Fabian had wanted a laugh.

Even now, Great Aunt Martha was staring daggers at Lily (and vis versa) as Fabian spoke loudly to the table about the plans for the wedding. Fabian's arm was wrapped around her shoulder as he spoke to his brother but his fingers pinched her shoulder when Aunt Martha said anything snide. After Aunt Martha commented on Lily's 'inappropriate' jeans and low cut top, Fabian had to turn his head to hide his grin as Lily frowned deeply. Lily hadn't been able to bring Sirius or Remus with her since they went family friends so she was left alone to suffer in Fabian's arms.

"What do muggleborns even do for the first few years of their lives with magical structure?" Martha protested, "Why she probably can't tell floo powder from fairy dust."

"I totally agree." Rita Skeeter spoke up from the end of the table where she had fashioned herself next to Aunt Martha.

Apparently the two awful women were close friends.

In hindsight, Lily should've drank an entire pitcher of sangria _before_ dinner.

The popular Daily Prophet writer had become a thorn in Lily's side ever since the engagement announcement between Fabian and Lily. Skeeter kept posting articles about how Fabian could've chosen a wife much more qualified for the sports world compared to the 'frumpy muggleborn from Cokesworth'. Quite frankly, the fact that Rita Skeeter was invited to every single event that Lily had to attend with the Prewett's made Lily want to dig a hole and fake her own death just like James.

As she took another swing of her water she considered that faking her death would've been much easer than faking a wedding. If she pretended to jump off a cliff and die then maybe James would've gotten around to appearing a lot sooner. It had been months and James hadn't been seen or spotted. Lily was starting to doubt Sirius' plan and even Fabian was wondering if they ought to just call it off. Lily needed a whole bottle of her favorite wine. Even now, her eyes were tracing the wall lined with wine bottles but she didn't dare stand up to grab one because they last time she'd drank in front of Rita Skeeter, the stupid witch had published an article about how the stress of a celebrity fiancée was pushing Lily 'to the edge' as if Lily were some washed up muggle childstar.

"Lily have you found a dress yet?" someone asked sweetly, trying to include her in the conversation.

"I go soon for a fitting with my friends." she replied, feeling Rita Skeeters eyes shift to her.

"My readers would love a wedding update," Rita said greedily, "Mind if I come on your shopping trip."

"Yeah, I do." Lily said somewhat coldly, making Aunt Martha's lips purse, "I want my dress to be a surprise."

"It probably won't be that glamorous anyways." Aunt Martha commented sourly.

Lily opened her mouth to answer but Fabian beat her, determined to keep the peace, "I'm sure Lily had already let the press invade her privacy enough for one lifetime."

"She has to get used to it if she's marrying a global quidditch star." Rita muttered to Aunt Martha dryly.

Lily thought of Sirius, who had completely taken over wedding preparation with Fabian's permission. He'd signed Lily up for a wedding dress fitting the net morning and she could only imagine how pissed he'd be if he found out that Lily was going to spoil the dress surprise by inviting the press. He was already upset that Rita Skeeter found out from Aunt Martha that the wedding was being held in Lily's old hometown church. It wasn't Lily's first pick as she'd always wanted to get married in Godric's Hollow where James had grow up but she had a feeling Sirius could not bring himself to book that church. Lily was glad he didn't, she was certain she could never walk into the church in a white gown unless James was at the end of the aisle.

While Aunt Martha prattled on to Rita Skeeter about how she'd marry the Minister if she wasn't already married to her brattish husband, Lily stared dutifully at her untouched plate of dessert. She couldn't help being bored. Fabian was completely lost in a conversation with his brother and hadn't spoken to Lily in over forty minutes. The set on the other side of Lily was empty as it's body was currently chasing a young boy with flaming red hair.

Fabian had two siblings.

One of them was the witch running after a child. Molly was at the restaurant with her husband Arthur. She had three young kids already running around the restaurant and (based on the size of her stomach) had another kid joining them soon. Lily liked Arthur the best, even if he wasn't Fabian's real brother. he loved muggles and had many questions about Lily's childhood. Arthur had just been promoted in the Ministry Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department, something his wife Molly was very proud of. Molly was always kind to Lily and seemed to accept her brother getting married to the Hogwarts professor.

Fabian's other sibling, his paternal twin brother Gideon, was not completely sold on the wedding. Fabian had warned Lily that it would be hardest to convince Gideon of the wedding since the two boys were so close and Fabian hadn't ever mentioned Lily as a potential interest. Fabian hadn't been wrong in his deduction because Gideon often stared Lily down with questioning eyes whenever she entered a room. Gideon's calculating stare was making her uncomfortable and very aware of every movement she made around Fabian. Half the time Lily felt like she was trying to convince Gideon that she actually loved Fabian—more than anyone else at least.

Even now with Gideon right next to Fabian, Lily made sure that she had one hand placed carefully on Fabians knee for prosperity of the lie. Every once in a while Lily would remind herself to remove it, she hated actually using Fabians—not that he acted like he minded. In fact, he'd been showing up at the flat to hang out with her and Sirius quite often. Despite their rocky start, Fabian and Sirius could stand to be int he same room together. Sirius even admitted he liked being around Fabian. Lily had teased him for a week.

Of course, the truth was always right in front of Lily's face. Their entire relationship was a lie. Sometimes Fabian would lean over and press a kiss to her forehead like James used to do. The only problems was—Lily didn't get the same butterflies in the pit of her stomach that James gave her. Instead, Fabian's kisses were more like a reassurance that all would be worth it in the end. She still hadn't figured out what Fabian hoped to get out of the fake wedding.

He was so supportive and hopeful though, she couldn't complain.

Fabian helped out with the money and told Sirius to not hold back. Fabian's words were all Sirius needed to purchase every little needed for a wedding, including 500 galleons worth of white roses. He roped Alice Longbottom into being Lily's bridesmaid when Lily's sister sent back a very respectful (and foreseen) no. Alice was Lily's saving grace, she'd seemed surprised by Lily's announcement at first but now she was in full wedding mode. Alice spent most of the time simply was trying to keep Lily calm.

"I remember how stressful my wedding was." Alice would laugh kindly as the girls poured over seating charts and reception details.

Lily had no idea how much went into a wedding, especially a celebrity wedding. She had zero idea about invitations and hadn't even thought about picking colors and a dress. Luckily, Alice and Sirius both were struggling to pull together a wedding fit for a Princess. Alice had taken charge of creating a beautiful wedding theme with a hint of yellow and gold to compliment both Lily's house (Gryffindor gold) and Fabian's house (Hufflepuff yellow). Sirius had taken over pretty much everything else. He had been buried in centerpieces and music. He'd made Remus spend all night helping him create centerpieces for the reception. Lily and remus kept saying Sirius had missed his calling and that he should look into planning weddings for a career.

Sirius always laughed away their qualms, "It's for James. He's gotta believe this is real or he'll never show up."

They were all thinking the same thing: what if James didn't show?

Lily stared at the diamond ring on her finger, letting it glitter in the candlelight. It was Fabian's mothers ring and she wore it with a sense of shame. They were leading on Fabian's entire family in the hopes that their fish would take a bite and get reeled in.

Worry fluttered through Lily the whole night, even during toasts where Fabian easily lied his way through the moment he fell in love with Lily's smile at the quidditch game. By the time the last toasts were done for Molly's birthday and Fabian walked Lily home to his flat she was ready to throw up from the nerves.

Fabian noticed her quiet demeanor and squeezed her hand, "You alright?"

"Fine."

"Liar."

Lily threw a glance at Fabian, "I hate lying."

He pulled her to a stop on the sidewalk, looking at her seriously, "You need to stop worrying. I agreed to this, they'll get over it." he added with a playful grin, "Hell, Aunt Martha will throw a party when we call this off."

When Lily didn't crack a smile at the thought of Aunt Martha throwing a party at her misery, Fabian sobered.

"You look shitty, let's get ice cream at the market and talk about it." Fabian demanded, yanking her across the street suddenly to the muggle grocer with neon signs.

"Fabian!" Lily protested against his tugging, "I just want to take off these heels!"  
"Come on Lily," Fabian ignored her protesting, "nothing will make you happier than ice cream."

" _You_ try wearing heels." Lily grumbled and Fabian grinned back at her sneakily.

"I did once in Vegas, they weren't too bad."

"Vegas." Lily laughed at that, "What were you doing in America?"

"Quidditch match, of course."

"Of course."

Fabian and Lily slipped through the automatic doors of the grocer and he led her through the aisles until they reach the frozen section. Lily helped pick out a box of pre-made chocolate cones that boasted almond toppings. Fabian was right, with the box of promised sweets in her hands she felt a little better. Lily paid for the ice cream with her muggle money and then the couple continued their walk down the dark street together, fishing their personal ice cream cones from the plastic bags.

"If Rita Skeeter could only see us now," Fabian said jokingly, "I wonder what her caption would be?"

"Hm," Lily licked at her cone greedily, "probably ' _Lily Evans Satisfies Pregnancy Cravings_ ' because she thinks I'm pregnant with your child."

"No," Fabian wrinkled his nose in despair before taking a bite of his own cone.

"If Skeeter asks me one more time if I'm pregnant with your child." Lily hissed through her teeth to Fabian, "I'll hex her green."

Fabian chuckled softly and winked at her, "remember this is all your fault."

"No," she disagreed, "It's James' fault, the bloody hero. It's been two months since our engagement announcement! I can't _believe_ he hasn't shown up yet."

"Guess we're going to have to move the wedding up." Fabian teased but Lily stopped in her tracks, looking at Fabian like he'd just found the Holy Grail.

"Oh my god."

He backtracked when he saw her expression, "Oh Evans, no…please don't say…"

"How about two weeks from now?" she cut him off seriously, "move it up. Give him a deadline."

Fabian pressed his spare hand to his forehead, "Merlin, you're hopeless Lily."

"Hopelessly in love." she fluttered her eyelashes at him over her ice cream.

Frank groaned and rolled his eyes, "Ugh, Lily this is madness if he hasn't shown up now—"

"Maybe he doesn't think it's urgent to get here if the wedding date is so far off." Lily said, "Maybe he needs more incentive."

"You said I was the incentive." Frank reminded her, shaking his coe in her face.

"Obviously," Lily bit into her cone and chewed thoughtfully before saying, "But it's like a game of quidditch."

Frank eyed her warily, "Don't start making sense Evans."

"We're playing a game of quidditch with James," Lily stared at the flecks of almond on the top of her cone, "And he knows the rules of the game. You can throw the quaffle into a hoop eight times and get eighty points but if you catch the snitch and win one hundred and fifty points—you win the game."

Fabian eyed her, "I'm not following."

"James won't waste his time on our quaffle scores if it won't cost him the game…" Lily said pointedly, "But the minute his rival spots the snitch he risks the chance of losing the game."

"Let me see if I understand this." Fabian said, licking vanilla ice cream off his fingers as the continued strolling down the street together, "The engamgent announcement is the quaffle?"

Lily nodded, "Ten points."

"And the wedding is the snitch?"

"One hundred and fifty points."

"And James is the rival team?"

"Exsactly," Lily said, "He'll do whatever it takes to win so we have to pretend to find the snitch."

"An engagement isn't enough." Fabian realized, "He won't show unless theres a real threat of losing you."

"We have to end the game." Lily nodded firmly, "We have to dangle the snitch in front of him."

Fabian sighed deeply and stuffed the rest of his ice cream cone into his mouth. Lily finished her cone two and they walked in silence for a bit. Lily waited patiently for Fabian to agree. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long.

"Yeah, okay, move up the date but I swear to Merlin if I make it up to the altar in two weeks and that idiot boyfriend of yours still hasn't shown—"

"He'll show." Lily said, "And if he hasn't by the time they ask if anyone objects, you can feel free to walk right out on me."

"Leave you standing up at the altar?" Fabian grinned shoving her shoulder with his, "What a publicity _nightmare_."

Lily snorted, "No more a publicity nightmare than me running out of the church in the arms of my supposedly dead death eater boyfriend."

"True."

They walked up to the fifth floor of the building where Fabian lived. The old tabby cat that lived around Fabian's place scattered away as Fabian opened his front door with a wave of his wand. He held the door open for Lily and she stepped in, flicking on the lights. He'd left a few candles burning and his flat smelled like clean leather and cinnamon because of them. Fabian's place was meticulously clean compared to Lily's shared apartment with Remus and Sirius. For a bloke, Fabian loved cleanliness and Lily half wished she did live permanently with Fabian because living with Remus and Sirius was like living with two poorly trained labradors.

"You want to floo home or apparate?" Fabian asked from behind as he hung his cloak on a rack.

"apparate." Lily replied softly as she glanced at her appearance in the closest mirror, "The last time I flooed to the flat it took me three weeks to get the soot out of my hair."

Fabian laughed when she fluffed up her hair pointedly, "You don't want to be covered in soot?"

"No thanks." Lily grinned, "Sirius would murder me if I got soot on the pillows again."

"He smells like smoke all the time." Fabian rolled his eyes.

"He's a hypocrite."

"That's for sure." fabian agreed, "But he's—well he's Sirius."

"I've never heard a truer statement." Lily said while pulling her wand out of her bag before smiling kindly at Fabian.

"What?" Fabian laughed at her smile, so wide, "Evans you look drunk."

"I wish I were." She replied all too seriously before stepping forward and kissing him on his cheek so that he flushed, "How will I ever reply you for all of this?"  
"I've started making a list." Fabian joked, flicking her shoulder playfully, "Now go home, you have a dress fitting tomorrow and I have a suit fitting."

Lily groaned, "Fine." she eyed him, "See you after outfits for wine and more complaining?"

"I do live to hear you complain." he teased, pulling at a strand of her hair.

"Such a good fake fiancee." she patted his cheek.

"Ha. ha."

Once she was home she could Sirius and Remus had gone out for drinks. She didn't take the silence in the apartment for granted. She fell asleep on the sofa using one of Remus' cardigans as a partial blanket. She only woke up when Sirius and Remus came through the door at midnight. They both went into the bedroom whispering to each other and Lily caught her name among the mumbles. She figured they were both going to share the bed rom the room only to be surprised when Sirius reappeared in the sitting room moments later. He was in his animals form, a large black dog, one that curled up by her feet on the large sofa.

Lily tucked her barefoot into his side and they both sighed. Lily had never been much of a dog person but she couldn't deny she loved Sirius best when he was in his dog form. She fell back asleep with him snoring at her feet. She woke up and Sirius was back in his human form, cooking breakfast in the tiny kitchenette. Most of the kitchen was overrun by Lily's goblets, beakers, and cauldrons for potion making but they made it work. The stove currently had Lily's favorite flower teapot steaming, filling the small flat with the smell of lavender and honey.

"Morning." she stretched s she spoke to Sirius, "Where'd Remus and you disappear to last night?"

"The bar." Sirius replied as he flipped toast, "I needed a drink."

"You and me both." Lily sighed as she rolled off the sofa onto the floor like a child, "Dinner was a nightmare."

"Fabian mentioned it."

"You saw Fabian?" Lily questioned, surprised.

"He met us at the bar." Sirius said, placing the toast on a plate.

"Oh." Lily screwed a face and Sirius chuckled.

"We were just having a drink Evans," he said, "Fabian's struggling with this wedding too you know."

Lily's shoulders dropped and she was compelled to moan, "I knew he was regretting—"

"No."

Sirius was quick to cut her off and come over with a plate of buttered toast and a cup of orange juice. Sirius plopped into the floor beside her and handed her a piece of toast. Lily took it miserably and chewed it with a frown.

"He's not regretting anything." Sirius said, "He's just dealing with a lot and needed to talk to—well people who understand."

When Lily didn't answer Sirius nudged her, "It's fine Evans. Eat your toast and then get ready, Alice is taking you dress shopping in a hour."

Sirius only laughed when she groaned and threw her head agains the back of the sofa.

The wedding dress, the one Sirius had booked reservations at, was a bright pink shop covered in flowers. Alice practically carried Lily through the doors, Lily was so hesitant to enter. As soon as she entered a bridal consultant swooped forward gushing about how excited she was to dress Fabian Prewett's lucky bride. Alice and the bridal consultant dragged Lily away from the plain dresses and to row of sparkly and over the top white gowns.

"Only the most fashionable for the wedding of the year!"

Alice was ever helpful, providing tips and tricks for the perfect dress. Lily wanted to take the first dress she put on but Alice was having none of Lily's budgeting or her poor fashion choices.

"This is your _wedding_." Alice said when Lily stared blankly into the mirror at a lace covered dress, "Don't you want to make Fabian cry?"

Lily bit her tongue so she couldn't say, ' _Fabian's already crying_ '.

She had always dreamed of her wedding day but now that she was starting the process of getting married for real she was nervous. She had always wanted to find the most perfect dress and get the chance to make her future husband cry out of happiness when he finally spotted her at the end of the aisle. She wished she were trying on dresses for James. Lily faltered as she took the first dress off…because of _course_ the wedding dress she picked was for James. All of the planning was was to bring James back from he dead and Merlin help Lily, she as going to make James Potter wish he'd never gone into hiding without running away with her first.

It took eight more dresses until the right one was pulled onto Lily's tall frame. The moment she looked in the mirror, she knew it was the perfect wedding dress. The gown was made out of soft silk and lined with gold tinted lace that flowed off Lily's hips and created a train behind her that rippled over the floor like white water. Lily especially loved the sleeves of the dress because they mimicked robes with long and trailing points that fell past her fingertips. The sleeves had pearls inlaid into the lace that glowed in the light and as Lily traced her form she felt something on the sides of the dress.

Her hands slipped between the folds of silk and she proclaimed happily, "Oh my god, pockets!"

The bridal consultant laughed as she smoothed the back of the dress, "For your wand, Miss." Alice clapped the minute Lily walked out and did a small circle in her bare feet. Other people in the shop looked overjoyed as Lily showed off the dress. They picked a matching veil that partially covered her face and was patterned with pearls. As they positioned Lily in front of the mirror to view the whole ensemble Lily had to bite her lip and hold back a sob. It didn't matter, the torahs saw her cry and they all clapped joyfully, thinking Lily was crying because she as happy.

Little did they know, Lily was crying because she was sad that this wasn't the dress for her real wedding. She excused herself after the dress had been credited to Sirius' account and she found herself apparating to Fabian's with the heavy wedding gown draped over her shoulder. She was only aware of how heavy the gown was by the time she reached Fabian's door. She leaned against the door with her shoulder and knocked loudly with her free hand. He opened the door with a bright smile and a new haircut but Lily pushed right past him.

"Hello dear." he said brightly, incase any nosy neighbors (or newspaper columnists) were around, "Sirius will be back soon with—"

"Hi." she replied back shortly, stepping out of the way so she could enter with her dress.

Fabian closed his door and, finally free of their act, Lily let the bagged dress fall and she covered her face. Fabian, sensing her distress rushed over and wrapped his long arms around her.

"Bad day?"

"Fabian that was awful."

"Worst than dinner with Aunt Martha?"

"Not quite that bad."

Angrily she kicked her heels off and Fabian laughed as she sighed in relief.

"Want to talk about it?"

Lily opened her mouth and that's when Sirius came barging through the front door.

"It's me," a boasting voice said, "And I brought wine."

"Sirius!"

Fabian and Lily cheered as the front door opened and Sirius came in carrying Lily's favorite wine and a packet of peppermint imps. Lily pulled out of Fabians arms to catch the packet of chocolate that Sirius tossed her way as he headed to the small counter where Fabian kept his glasses.

"Just make yourself at home." Fabian teased Sirius as their friend poured Lily a large glass of her favorite wine.

"I like to make an entrance."

"You sure do." Fabian muttered to himself with a roll of his eyes.

Sirius crossed the rooms in five steps with a glass filled to the top with white wine. Lily tossed the packet of chocolate quickly to the sofa and took the glass happily from Sirius. She took a drink before praising him.

"You are my favorite."

"I came over to tell you I finalized the church seating chart and I placed Aunt Martha in the back of the family side."

Lily sighed in relief and leaned forward to plant a kiss on Sirius' stubbly cheek, "I love you."

"Oi," Fabian laughed from the counter as he poured himself a glass of wine, "I'm the one marrying you Evans, shouldn't I be your favorite?"

Sirius snorted at Fabian's question but there was a playful smirk on his face as he replied, "Yeah Prewett, because parading a pretty and smart redhead around on your arm has been _so_ hard on you."

Fabian's eyes settled dimly and suddenly Sirius looked sheepish. Lily noted the raised eyebrow Fabian sent in Sirius' direction and she wondered what it was about. Lily cut into their staring contest to break up any other chance of Sirius souring the mood with his lack of filter.

"It has been hard on all of us." she reminded them, "But it'll all be worth it in two weeks."

"Yeah, yeah— _wait_ ," Sirius paused and glared at her, "T _wo weeks_? What do you know that I don't?"

"Lily's moving up the wedding date." Fabian said weakly from the sink, "I forgot to tell you last night.

"Moving up what?!" Sirius exclaimed, looking between the groom and the bride, "I _just_ got the dates confirmed!"

Lily grinned weakly, "Oops."

Sirius exclaimed, "We're trying to make this shit believable."

"Lily thinks we didn't give James enough of an ultimatum." Fabian explained, passing Sirius a full glass of alcohol.

"Two more weeks." Lily said with a nod, "Or not at all."

"Merlin, this'll be a nightmare to sort out with the church." Sirius sighed.

"You'll be fine." Lily said as she fell onto the sofa.

Sirius' cool grey eyes narrowed at her nonchalant behavior, "You know what Evans? I was going to tell you tomorrow but since you want to ruin my night, I'll ruin yours."

Lily's fingers gripped her glass harder as she lowered to cup to eye Sirius dangerously, "What?"

"We have one more unexpected person to add the wedding list."

"Who?"

"Minister McAdams."

The glass in Lily's hand slipped to the floor, shattering across the wood stained laminate. Almost instantly she realized what she had done and she cursed, kneeling down to clean up the spreading sticky wine and broken bits of glass. Lily's dress robes were soaked in the wine as she precariously tried to pick up the glass without cutting herself. she cursed as the wine began disappearing under Fabian's sofa.

"Lily!" Fabian cried despairingly, "This is a _rental_."

"Are you both gits magic or not?" Sirius sighed dramatically, pushing Lily away from the puddle of wine.

Lily sat on the floor holding pieces of broken glass, glaring up at Sirius, affronted. Sirius ignored Lily and waved his wand, bringing the pieces of glass off the floor and out of Lily's fingers. The shards hovered in the air before melting back together with a simple _repairo_ spell. Lily stayed on the ground, feeling completely defeated from the news.

"Isn't McAdams the one trying to ruin James' life?" Fabian asked.

Lily complained, falling back dramatically and covering her face, "Ugh, he's such an arse!"

She could hear Fabian and Sirius moving around her but Lily didn't dare look through her fingers for fear she'd cry if she saw either of their pitying looks. If McAdams wanted to go to the wedding it meant he was keeping a close watch on Lily. It meant he didn't trust her—that he believed she was a part of some scheme. Even if she was scheming; she also wasn't naive and figured that if the Minister wanted to be at her wedding then there was a huge change of James showing up as well.

Both Fabian and Sirius were leaning over her when she uncovered her face. They both seemed to have figured out what she did.

Sirius knew Lily enough to read her expression, "You think this means James will definitely show?"

"If the Minister personally invites himself to our wedding?" Lily huffed, "What else am I supposed to think?"

"We still don't know what James was or is doing." Fabian reminded them both, ever the voice of reason, "He could be in Australia hiding out for all we know."

"No," Lily stated, "This must mean something."

"Maybe James was spotted." Sirius suggested.

Fabian, unamused, left Lily and Sirius. Lily heard him bustling through the cabinets in his kitchen. She kept her eyes trained on Sirius.

"How did McAdams request to attend the wedding?"

Sirius reached into his robes and pulled out a thick black envelope with the Ministry seal. Lily stood up and grabbed the letter, falling into the cushions to read it. She resisted cursing again as Sirius felt into the sofa next to her. She rolled her head onto Sirius' shoulder and stared across the room at Fabian. Sirius couldn't help but chuckle as she threw the letter on the floor and stepped on it out of spite.

"Today sucks."

"Hey," Fabian offered kindly, "You got a dress today."

"Yeah," Sirius said, "Let's see it!"

"Isn't that bad luck?" Lily asked, "Seeing a bride in her gown before the wedding day?"

"It's not a real wedding." Fabian protested, "Here, you left it by the door."

"Model for me?" Sirius grinned, "Perfect, I can't wait to tell you how utterly foolish you look."

"Come on," Fabian encouraged Lily, "Go change into your dress, it'll make you feel better."

"Fine." She sat up and looked around the room before grabbing the dress from Fabian, "I'm putting it on."

Fabian, of course, was right. As soon as she slid the fabric over her head and zipped up the back as far as she could without help, she felt better. There was something magical about wedding dresses, especially when you put them on. Lily had no idea why, but she felt like she was enchanted and in some sort of fairytale dream as she entered the room where Sirius was sitting on the floor knocking back a firewhiskey. He almost dropped the bottle when he spotted her.

Sirius stood up as Lily stood there rocking back and forth on her toes, looking at the pretty way the dress moved against the floor.

"You look like a hundred galleons." Sirius croaked suddenly and when Lily looked up at him with a shy grin she saw he looked emotional.

"Think James'll like it?" she asked.

"James'll love it." he said and he used hi sleeve to wipe at his eye quickly, "He'll push Fabian out of the way and marry you in a heartbeat."

"Thats the plan isn't it?"

Fabian had appeared carrying another glass of wine for Lily. He placed the wine on a table before motioned to Lily with a wide smile.

"You're gorgeous."

"Thank you." she told her friend, "Sorry for not mentioning it earlier, but I like your haircut."

Fabian flushed, "Thanks."

Sirius interrupted with another swing of his drink, "you both look great but still not as great as me."

"As if anyone could ever look as great as you." Lily said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"As if anyone would even _try_." Sirius laughed darkly with a half smile that turned his face into another example of model-like perfection.

Lily turned to glance at Fabian and saw he was staring at Sirius with an off expression on his face. She saw the muscle in Fabian's jaw clench as his eyes traced Sirius' laid back movements precariously. She tilted her head at Fabian, wondering to herself before she burst into laughter as Sirius zipped her dress all the way up from behind.

Next, Sirius waved his wand in the direction of the radio and a bubbling trumpet sound filled the room. A warm singing voice accompanied the trumpets, singing about stars stealing the night away. Lily and Fabian grinned at each other as Sirius starting singing along with the help of the fire whiskey bottle as his microphone. Before Lily could understand all the lyrics, Sirius had her hands and was swinging her around in large circles in Fabian's flat.

"Don't step on my dress!" Lily giggled, throwing her head back and letting her hair fly behind her as they twirled, "I have to wear it in two weeks."

"Come along Fabian!" Sirius called out, holding a hand out to Fabian, who looked more than willing to take it.

Lily held the lace of her wedding dress, the firelight casting a golden light over them as they laughed and danced together in a carefree way. The music was loud and the drinks made Lily feel hot and excited all at once. At some point Fabian pulled out three more bottles of firewhiskey and they spent the rest of the night squished together on the sofa comparing stories from their school days. Lily's gown was so large that it covered Fabian and Sirius' legs. Sirius had taken to using the dress as a blanket and laughing, Lily pulled the skirts from him.

"I have to get married in this you know!" she poked Sirius, "In two weeks you can use it as a blanket."

Fabian whistled from Lily's other side, "Two weeks."

"Two weeks." Sirius nodded, taking a final swing of his eighth firewhiskey.

The music, still bubbly and loud, was so different from the stillness between the friends.

Lily looked left at Fabian and saw he was staring at his fingernails. He looked forlorn, as if something were eating away at him. she had a feeling that she knew what it was, because _it_ was sitting on the other side of her. Even if Fabian wasn't willing to admit it—Lily wondered if he fancied Sirius in some sort of romantic way. She supposed it was possible but she remembered Fabian being quite the ladies man in school. She wondered if he liked both girls and boys in the way Sirius did. No matter what Fabian felt, Lily was thankful for him and she hoped he knew that.

Reaching out, Lily took his hand and Fabian's head shot up like a rocket. Their eyes met and Lily smiled keenly. He smiled back, but it was without his usual fervor.

"You don't suppose." he started softly, "You don't suppose this is all for nothing."

"What do you mean?" Lily whispered back and next to her, Sirius shifted uncomfortably.

Fabian shrugged, "What if this whole scam…what if…"

"Fab, _don't_." Sirius said from beside Lily who had straightened up in her seat.

"But—"

Sirius leaned around Lily to glare at Fabian, "Just don't."

"Aren't you worried?" Fabian grew defensive when Sirius chastised him, "You _said_ you were worried."

"You don't think he'll come back?" she choked at Sirius who, before, had always been her fellow James Potter Loyalist.

"I just said I was worried that he might be unreachable." Sirius said softly.

"He hasn't answered any of our moves Lily." Fabian said seriously, "Aren't you a little bit worried?"

"It's going to work."

"And are you prepared to deal with the consequences if it doesn't?" Fabian asked, "Are you going to be okay if James never makes it to that altar?"

"Too far, Fab." Sirius muttered.

"Someone had to say it." Fabian shot back at him.

Lily felt the tears prick her eyes as she turned her gaze upon Sirius who looked sheepish. When Sirius refused to look at her, she turned back to Fabian, eyes hard.

"He's going to come home." she stood up, gathering her skirts, "James will come home."

"Lily we just-" but Sirius tumbled over his words, "We don't want you to think we don't believe in James' loyalties to your relationship. We know he loves you more than anything. We want him to come back. But we're worried about what might happen to you if he doesn't show."

"Don't worry about me." Lily said, squaring her shoulders, "I can take care of myself."

"We know," Fabian shot Sirius a look, as if Sirius were at fault for the argument.

"Then why are you talking about this behind my back?" Lily asked coldly.

"It's not behind your back Lily." Sirius said weakly, "Fabian just brought up some concerns over dinner the other night."

"Dinner?"

"We went to dinner a few nights ago." Sirius blinked coolly, "Fabian wanted to talk about things."

"About me."

"About me actually," Fabian snapped, "You aren't the only person on this planet dealing with a lie, Evans."

"You two have gotten awfully chummy in the last few weeks," Lily shot was aimed low and it made both boys look suddenly uncomfortable, "Feel like telling me why?"

Sirius looked upset, "Fabian, help me out here?"

Both boys stared at her, looking genuinely upset that they'd upset her. When neither boy answered as she stared from overtop of them, she grew tired and upset.

"I'll see you both tomorrow."

She swallowed deeply and took one last look at Sirius (who had his eyes fastened on Fabian like he was going to give the quidditch player an earful) before grabbing her things and disappearing in her wedding gown. It was a look, one of her neighbors stared at her once she'd reached the apartments she called home. She sent him a glare that warded of any questions about the pure white dress as she unlocked the front door with her key.

Lily was thankful Remus wasn't home as she slowly undressed and changed into a pair of James' old pajama bottoms and sweater. She kept all of James' clothes tucked away so that on bad nights or days, she could pull out a shirt that smelled like him. Wrapped in a clean scent so purely James, she curled up on the sofa staring at the wedding dress now hanging against the windowsill. On the table next to Lily, a picture of James kissing her in front of Hogwarts castle flickered like a movie reel.

Dancing and drinking with the boys had been so fun and freeing, she didn't know why Fabian had to go and ruin it. James would've loved their dancing, he was always the life of the party. Lily happily recalled one night where James took her to a muggle dancehall and they danced for hours to a live band. He's twirled her until she was dizzy and kissed her until she was drunk with love. She missed him kissing her deeply and playfully when she least expected it.

A sob broke through her chest and she placed her head on her knees.

"Lily?"

She looked up and started wiping the tears from her eyes when she saw Remus standing in the doorway between the sitting room and bedroom. He'd come out from the bedroom where he'd obviously been sleeping. He was wrapped in one of the spare blankets and his hair was standing in every direction. The circles under his eyes were only defined by the candlelight.

"Remus." Lily sniffed, "I'm sorry."

"No I'm sorry." Remus stretched his hands in the air, "I fell asleep reading that new book you got on hearing potions—I was gonna let you have the bed tonight since you slept on the sofa last night."

"No," she wiped her face with the sleeves of James' top but somehow that just made the tears come faster, "N-no i-i-it's _fine_."

It was her shaken tone that made Remus stop stretching. His eyes took in the scene before him. He'd always been quick and it only took him about five extra seconds before he sighed and pressed a hand to his cheek. Lily's deep breath in only made her sound more pathetic, it was driven by a sob.

"Oh, _Lily_."

And Lily, who was never good at keeping the emotions off her face whispered, "I miss him so much, Remus."

Remus sat down on the sofa next to her and Lily leaned in to place her head on Remus' chest. Remus wrapped his blanket around her shoulders and she felt him sigh again. She felt bad for crying to Remus but she didn't want to talk to Sirius how as clearly having private conversations with Fabian.

"Where's Sirius?"

Lily winced at his name.

"I left him with—with Fabian."

"Ah." Remus chuckled and Lily looked up at him through blurry eyes.

"Apparently they both think James might not come back."

"Sirius doesn't think that."

"That's not what Fabian said."

"Have you ever thought that made Sirius was only trying to pacify Fabian?"

Lily leaned up off Remus and glared at him, "When has Sirius ever tried to pacify anyone?"

"When he likes and respects them."

Lily swallowed as she thought of Fabian's weird looks and Sirius' defensive manners. She felt even worse now than she did before.

"Sirius likes Fabian." she pulled back to stare at remus in shock, "Fabian likes Sirius?"

"They definitely hit it off." Remus muttered, with a half roll of his eyes.

Lily collapsed back into Remus, "I've upset them."

"No more than they've upset themselves." Remus sighed, "Apparently Fabian agreed to fake marry you to get closer to Sirius, who we both know, is not too fond of commitment."

"And what does Sirius think about that?" Lily asked.

He said decidedly, "He's been a pain in the arse, according to Fabian."

That made her laugh and Remus nudged her, "I've been subject to hearing about their drama for weeks Lily, how did you not notice?"

"To be fair," Lily replied, "I've had a lot distracting me from the fact that my fiancee and best friend were making eyes at each other."

Remus laughed, "They were also trying to keep it from you. They didn't ant to add to your already, entirely full plate."

Lily frowned, "I wished they hadn't. Now I've just yelled at them and feel awful for it."

"Eh," Remus shrugged, "Sirius is used to your yelling-he says it's just you caring very loudly."

"Fabian isn't used to my yelling." Lily pointed out.

"Fabian's too busy making heart eyes at Sirius to really care about much."

Lily thought of the way Fabian was staring at Sirius that night and had to agree with Remus. The two sat wrapped up on the sofa for another quiet fifteen minutes. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Lily spoke again.

"Why do you think James hasn't come yet Remus?" she asked her friend solemnly, "Do you think he misses us?"

"That's a stupid question Lily." Remus said, "James values his friends and family more than anything else."

"I know but," she pushed her fingernails into her palms, "God, Remus, I couldn't live with myself if I continued on the rest of my life not knowing where he is-or if he's even alive." after a pause she added, "No, he's alive. I know he is. He has to be."

"Where is this coming from?"

"I thought he'd come back the moment he heard about the engagement but he hasn't."

"Well that's just the answer isn't it?" Remus said, pulling her closer, "Maybe, James hasn't heard anything yet."

"You think?"

"Yes," Remus snorted into her hair, "do you think James Potter would wait five seconds—if he heard you were marrying his quidditch arch nemesis, Fabian Prewett?"

Lily smiled into Remus' shirt, "I should hope not."

Remus poked her in her side again and she lurched a bit, "Fabian and Sirius are just worried for you Lily, just like I am. We want you to have a happy ending."

"Are they even real?" Lily asked cynically, "Isn't that stuff for fairy tales?"

"Wearing a dress like that?" Remus chuckled, "you'll be the closest thing to fairytale anyones ever seen."

"Do you think James'll like it?"

"He'll be wonderstruck." Remus pressed a hand to her head carefully, "It's all he'll talk about for weeks and Sirius will have to threaten to spill-o-tape his mouth shut to get him to keep his Lily Monologues to himself."

She sighed, "You're the best, Remus."

Remus rolled his eyes, "Don't butter me up, Evans."

"I've always liked you best."

"Lily."

" _Remus_."

They fell asleep on the sofa together, both of them talking about the things they'd do when James finally returned.

Lily woke up to the sound of a sharp knock at her door. It was Sirius carrying post-fight apologies in the form of sunflowers and Fabian making up for his words in the form of pancake mix. Remus was there laughing as he tried to mix chocolate chips into the pancakes while Lily watched Sirius and Fabian flirt shamelessly over cups of orange juice. The radio was playing loudly and the windows were open to the fresh air. They all pretended that everything was going to work out, hope driving them all through the next two weeks.

On the date of the actual wedding, Lily woke up to Alice entering her bedroom with a bag full of make up, a long white dress, and a wide smile.

"It's wedding day!"

Lily felt like she was walking in a dream.

Alice helped her dress and Lily waited for James.

Alice painted makeup onto Lily's face and Lily's eyes kept darting to the door.

Alice squeezed Lily's hand outside the church doors and Lily kept glancing to the tree line for James' tall silhouette.

The organ started to play a song that sounds like a death march and she felt like she was going to puke up the granola bar Alice had shoved down her throat.

Lily searched for a head of messy black hair among the guests seated in the pews but saw only the Minister watching and waiting. She hated that he was there and made sure to not smile at him when he caught her staring. Instead, Lily stared ahead to Fabian, hoping the veil covered the panic on her face. James still wasn't there.

As Lily came to stand in front of Fabian and he took her hands, her heart was pounding. Fabian licked his lips and Lily saw his eyes flirt to the front row where Remus and Sirius were sitting, both boys looking as nervous as she felt. Sirius' face was paler than normal and Remus was fidgeting with a camera in his lap.

The preacher started the ceramony. He was a older man, a half blood who mixed the vows between muggle and magic. Lily had loved him mostly because he was everything Aunt Martha hadn't wanted. Aunt Martha had tried to get Fabian to back out of the wedding at the rehearsal dinner. Fabian told her to shut her face or she was uninvited.

Fabian squeezed her hand as they listened to the vows. Lily waited for it, for Fabian to call the ruse, but like any good friend, he seemed to be waiting until the last possible second. His hands were tight in her own as the time ticked closer to the end of their game. Fabian's hair was combed to perfection and Lily saw he proudly wore the checkered bowtie she'd bought him last week in Diagon Alley. Alice stood to Lily's right, ever the loyal Maid of Honor, carrying the bouquet of roses that Lily had been holding when she walked down the aisle only fifteen minutes before. It really was quite the lavish wedding (all things considered) but Fabian had promised and more than delivered. The church was beautiful and Lily's dress was covered in pearls befitting a Queen.

Despite all of this, Lily's eyes still kept flirting to all the doors in the church. She chewed her bottom lip as she clutched Fabian's hands. She could tell he was nervous too, as he was red around the cheekbones. Lily's white veil was still covering her face, keeping her eyes from giving away the real reason she stood at an altar with the wrong man.

Suddenly she heard the preacher say, "Speak now or forever hold your peace."

Silence filled the hall.

She closed her eyes; _this was his last chance_.

Her heart was racing.

Her palms were sweaty and her hands were shaking.

Her wedding dress dug into her ribs making it harder to breathe.

And just when she thought she might pass out from all her pressing anxiety, a burst of cold air blew into the church via the double doors. The frigid winter chill hit Lily's face and she started, her hands ripping away from Fabian like she'd been burned because the man currently stumbling into the church was the reason she was at the altar in the first place.

" _James_."

There were horrified looks from everyone in the room, especially from Rita Skeeter in the front row with her offending quill. The Prewett's wicked Aunt Martha was covering her mouth in utter disbelief. Whispers broke out and an old woman swooned into her fan. Gideon Prewett grabbed his brother's shoulder as a (supposedly) dead man stood at the opposite end of the aisle with his black hair in messy curls to match the scraggly beard growing on his chin.

Lily could only look at him, despite the crowd, as she was afraid that he might be another daydream.

"Sorry everyone," James joked airily, voice cracking, "Did I miss the vows?"

Whispers broke out among the guests as Lily slowly and carefully took two steps in James' direction. Her eyes traced his face, weathered from stress but as handsome as ever. His eyes, far enough away that she couldn't see the hazel, fell on her and he stopped suddenly as if she'd stunned him. His mouth fell open a bit as he checked her out, standing there bold as brass. She felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest as his eyes traced her slowly and deliberately, like he was memorizing her like a book he wished to remember for a rainy day.

"You're alive." she breathed, "You came back."

But before she could run into his arms, a woman stepped into view behind him, wand raised and pointed at Lily with deadly aim. Lily stumbled back a bit in shock as James glanced behind him and registered the woman with a smile. Suddenly, someone stepped in front of Lily. It was the Minister, dressed in a long black robe. His black hair fell out from under his hat as he blocked Lily from James. The witch behind James arced her wand in the air now, as if ready to fire any moment.

"Go back to the podium," The minister said to Lily in a sickly- sweet voice, "I'll take care of this."

James tossed his wand in the air and caught it again, pointing it at the Minister's heart, "Don't speak to her, in fact do everyone a favor just don't speak, ever again."

"Aurors!" the Minister cried, "Arrest Potter, now!"

It was like a scene in a movie, at first nothing but silence, and then the first spell shot across the room straight for James. Lily felt a rushing in her ears as war broke out in the church and spells began flying in every direction. Some were aimed to protect James and some to handicap him.

Lily raced forward to help but was caught by the arm by the Minister himself snarling, "Oh no you don't, mudblood."

When Lily looked into the Minister's eyes, she saw nothing but cold hearted hatred and that's when Lily realized that there was more to James' disappearance than a missing case file and empty casket. That's when she realized she'd made an awful mistake. That's when Lily realized that she'd brought James to the end of a dueling match that McAdams wanted to finish-and win.

* * *

 **I told myself I'd wait to publish another chapter until I could publish it with the final chapter but then I thought "nah Petals, half the fun is getting to read the 'WTF' anxiety messages" I get when I leave chapters with cliffhangers like the one above.**

 **Don't worry, I'll update with the last chapter VERY soon but for now, go throw some of your angst-ridden comments down below! LOL**

 **xxx**

 **Petals**


	7. (This Love Is) Ours

**Chapter 7: (This Love Is) Ours**

"Don't worry," Hanna said to James as they stood in the woods near the little white church, "Dumbledore said he'd get the word out to the rest of the Order."

"We just have to distract McAdams long enough to keep him in the church until the order gets in." James muttered and he tossed the diary around in his fingertips as he fretted.

"What if McAdams tries to arrest you?"

"Oh, he's _definitely_ gonna try that."

Hanna wrapped her cat scarf tightly around her neck, "we're gonna fight off the Ministry's top Aurors? Alone?"

"We won't be alone." James affirmed as he stared at the way someone had lined the pathway to the church with yellow roses, "It's Lily's wedding so my friends will be in there too."

"Yeah," Hannah seemed unconvinced, "Your six friends and about ten of the Ministry's top Aurors protecting the man we're about to condemn as a Voldemort supporter."

"Then it'll be an even fight."

James winked at Hanna and she pouted her lower lip in disbelief. He looked back at the church and felt like gravity was tearing him down. He knew nothing in the world could stop him now, not with Lily so close and not with his storybook ending right behind two church doors. He hoped their plan would work and he hoped Lily was willing to fight at his side after everything.

"I can read your mind." Hanna reminded him with a glare, "You're worried."

James pinched her arm, "I'm worried someone I care about will get hurt."

Hanna looked worried about that option too. James brushed his fingers through his hair as they began walking side-by-side through the light fog. The grass was long and helped them sneak closer to the church without being spotted. They were far enough away that the two aurors guarding the doors hadn't even glanced their way yet. James was determined to make it to the side of the church without being spotted.

"Can you hear any of their thoughts from here?" James asked Hanna, "Pick up on anything weird?"

"I need to get a little closer." Hanna whispered and James saw she was pulling her wand out, "What are you going to tell them?"

"Hopefully it's someone I know." James replied, his grip tightening on the diary as he tucked it away to be replaced with his wand, "But it concerns me that they're guarding the church like it's a prison."

"I mean," Hanna quipped, "Some people do say marriage is like prison."

"Ha. ha." James rolled his eyes but a part of him was thankful for Hanna's cool presence.

They both started running, placing themselves along the side of the building. James and Hanna stayed tucked under the stained glass windows that lined the wooden church. Inside James heard a deep booming voice which meant the ceremony had started. He hadn't expected the lurch in his gut or the flash of red to cross his eyes when he heard the voice say Lily's name coinciding to Fabian Prewett. He never thought he'd see a day where Lily Evans would willingly stand at an alter with a man other than him.

James couldn't help it, slowly standing up and gazing through the stained glass. Hanna was too busy trying to read the Aurors at the door to notice James, hands pressed against the red strained glass, taking in a sharp breath when he spotted her. Lily stood at the alter, facing James, her hands clasped tightly to a boy with strawberry blond hair and broad shoulders. She wore her hair down and it cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall. He was holding his breath as his eyes traced the dress she wore in awe.

The stained glass was turning everything red and the hues made her dress blush pink as she moved slightly, changing the weight on her feet. The dress hugged her every curve and the sleeves were covered in lace and pearls that hung down in a flowery pattern around her wrists. Her collarbones peeked out enticingly from the plunging neckline and the stained-glass gave her a red colored hue that matched the heat spreading across James' face. Suddenly she smiled at Fabian softly, a kind smile she reserved for someone she cared about and James felt like he was knocked off his feet by the sheer beauty of her.

She was angelic, untouchable, and in apparently in love with a man other than James.

Lily wore a veil that covered her face but James could still see the flash of green through the gauzy material. He could still see the coldness in them as she stared dutifully at the man in front of her. He almost lost hope, almost, until he saw the briefest flicker in her eyes. Her head turned slightly towards the double doors and he recognized the look on her face.

Something was making her eyes flutter to the double doors every few seconds. Something was making her shift nervously on her feet as she listened to the ceremony. Something was making her so anxious that she was chewing on her lower lip as she turned her eyes back to Fabian after looking at the doors to the church.

James felt reassurance grow in his chest as he realized she was looking for _someone_. His eyes scanned the pews facing the altar and she saw Remus and Sirius sitting in the pew closest to the bride and groom. He spotted a few of his old auror friends smiling up at the bride and groom. He didn't see anyone missing from the brides side of the church. That was the moment he knew, she wasn't looking for just anything or anyone...she had to be waiting for _him_.

And God damn, James wasn't going to keep Lily waiting any longer.

"Whats the verdict?" he asked Hanna hurriedly as he slid back below the stained glass windows.

Hanna narrowed her eyes, zeroing in on their targets, and then she said, "They're both clearly puppets for McAdams."

"Great." James groaned, and got up from one knee, "let's do this then."

Before Hanna could say anything James rounded out from around the corner of the church, taking the auror's by surprise. The first one fell to a stunner easily but the second, a girl with bright blue eyes and a nose ring blocked James' attack. James recognized Meredith by her moonshined face, glowing with disbelief at the sight of him. They both stood their ground, neither of them making the first move. They'd shared many long days in the office together pouring over documents during their few few months at Aurors. Before Meredith could finish saying James' name in disbelief Hanna rounded the corner behind James and stunned her.

"Hanna, she wasn't going to attack." James complained as he caught Meredith before she hit the cement and laid the girl gently on the steps, "We were friends in Auror school."

"Yes she was your friend." Hanna stepped over Meredith, "But they all think you're a traitor, remember?"

James sobered, "Oh yeah."

He wondered if Lily thought he was a traitor. He wondered what she'd say when he opened the doors currently blocking his vision.

There was only one way to find out.

With a huff he leaned into the doors and pushed roughly. Both doors slammed opened, knocking against their respective walls with loud enough echoes that everyone in the hall turned in their seats. The hall was dead silent and James was aware of two things at once. The first thing, being that Minitster McAdams was smiling at James with a dangerous smile only five pews away. The second thing was that as soon as she spotted him, Lily's hands ripped out of Fabian's grip like he had burned her.

" _James_."

The relief flooding Lily's voice was enough to make James relax because in her tone, she confirmed she'd been waiting for him.

"Sorry everyone," James joked airily, voice cracking, "Did I miss the vows?"

Whispers erupted through the crowd. Multiple people were standing up, trying to get a good look at James in the doorway. Lily took a step towards him and once again he was struck by how beautiful she looked. He could spend the rest of his life staring at her in that dress in that moment, when she realized he was there for her.

"You're alive." Lily looked as if she were about to cry, "You came back."

James felt Hanna appear on his left and he turned his head slightly to offer her a smile only to see that she had her wand pointed with a deadly aim. Concern flooded his features, knowing she could read the minds of anyone in the room. He scanned the room for the threat and McAdams stepped out in front of Lily before James could run down the aisle and sweep her into his arms. McAdams stared James down with an antagonistic glare, standing between James and his happily ever out. Hanna swung her wand in the air now, as if ready to fire at McAdams any moment.

James leaned into his toes as she aimed his wand too, especially when McAdams grabbed Lily's elbow and hissed something to her. Lily stared at McAdams in disbelief, yanking her arm from his possessive grasp.

James tossed his wand in the air and caught it again, pointing it at the Minister's heart, "Don't speak to her, in fact do everyone a favor just don't speak, ever again."

"Aurors!" the Minister snarled to the room filled with wizards and witches, "Arrest Potter, _now_!"

"No!" Lily cried out, trying to race forward but the Minister grabbed her again, "James!"

It was like a scene in a movie, at first nothing but silence, and then the first spell shot across the room straight for James. Hanna, who was always prepared and one step ahead, flung herself forward and blocked the spell with a shield. The spell rebounded into the pews and some people disappeared on the spot. People started standing up and moving to the sides of the church, eyes caught on the scene in the middle of the aisle as spells began shooting into all corners of the church. People were now scattering in fear.

"Nobody knows who to trust!" Hanna shouted at him, "This is insane!"

"No more insane than walking out of Malfoy Mansion with all our wits about us!" James shouted back and she beamed.

"Where've you been you idiot!" a new voice joined James and Hanna, one James had missed dearly.

"Sirius!" James grinned as Sirius threw an Ministry official into a pew on their left before the boys hugged quickly, "Nice to see you!"

"Nice to see you!" Sirius mocked as they began deflecting spells aimed their way, "We thought you were dead!"

"Whoops."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I dare you to say that to Lily, she'll make your gravestone a real one."

"You think she'll be mad?"

"She's been mad her whole life."

"So've you."

"Touche." Sirius saluted James laughing.

"I've missed you."

"Duck!" Sirius called suddenly and James followed his command, narrowly missing a body binding spell that instead hit a statue of an angel that cracked in half.

James stood his ground, blocking spell after spell shot his way in attempt to capture him but suddenly a familiar cry from ahead made James lose his focus. He halted to a stop as Hanna continued trying to block the spells and Sirius began wrestling a bloke in fancy black robes muggle style for his wand. Lily was pulling away from McAdams with a nasty gash on her arm that was spilling red blood onto the left side of her wedding gown.

James had every intention of going t help Lily but he only made it up two pews when a girl with a short black hairstyle jumped out in front of him and pointed her wand at James. James recognized her from many long and boring meetings in the Auror headquarters. Lana wasn't friends with Lily (or James) so he had a feeling she was with McAdams.

"Lana!" he said with a easy grin, "Nice to see you're still up the Minister's arse."

"Death Eater looks awful on you Potter." Lana replied snarkily, "I guess they'll take just about anyone these days."

"New haircut?" James blocked her disarm spell, "It looks awful."

james twisted his wand and Lana should from surprise as she was lifted into the air by her ankle. She had dropped her wand and she struggled against the magic having her upside down. When she realized James had bested her, Lana spit at him.

"I can't believe you'd betray us all, _especially_ Peter."

James felt his confident smirk break, "Who told you I betrayed Peter?"

"The Minister said so."

James swung his wand again and Lana landed in a heap of tangled arms and legs on the floor of the church.

"You've been listening to a joker dressing up as a king."

Ahead of James, Lily was holding the skirts of her wedding dress and even in this time of peril, she looked too good to be true. Her hair had grown longer since the last time James saw her and it cascaded down her back, covered only by a white lace veil. Lily's mouth was squared in concentration and her eyes were slits as she dueled the Minister. Behind Lily, more people were disappearing, too scared to stay.

James jumped over the body of a Ministry witch and then landed next to Lily who had just successfully blocked another attack from the Minister.

"Alright, Evans?"

He threw out his wand arm and McAdams was blasted back in surprise against a couple of flowerpots near the wall that broke under his crushing weight.

Lily asked forcefully, "Where have you been?"

"Was a bit busy."

"And who's the girl with the scarf?" Lily added jealously, "Mrs. Busy?"

"Say the woman in a wedding dress."

"I wouldn't be wearing this dress if it weren't for you."

"You could just say you missed me," James sent Lily a lopsided smile and he was rewarded when her lips turned up at the corners.

"Fine," she pushed her hair back with a haughty smirk, "I guess I missed you."

"You guess," James turned back to make sure the Minister was still down but he was disappointed to see that McAdams had recovered.

James saw the Minister turn his wand in a particular twist that he recognized from his days in the Auror academy. James didn't even think before he knocked Lily to the floor, landing on top of her as the spell nearly grazed James and then hit the stained glass behind them. Colorful glass shards exploded around them and James shielded Lily while still maintaining eyes on the Minister who was pacing back and forth madly. Underneath him, Lily head onto his shirt desperately, the breath knocked out of her.

James knew they had to move. James waved his wand and a cloud of smoke erupted, covering the pews around them in dark smoke. Lily coughed underneath him as he rolled off her and grabbed her arms to start dragging her away from the Minister and back down the aisle. With her wedding dress on, she weighed more and the dress kept getting stuck in the wooden pews.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist coming back," the Minister called, through the smoke that was clearing too fast for James to get Lily out of the woods, "Your file said you're extremely loyal which meant you wouldn't give up on your dead friend Pettigrew's case _or_ be able to resist Professor Evans' timely wedding to a Quidditch player just as I was about to ruin your bloody life."

"I'm so stupid." Lily groaned as James tried to drag her behind a pew for protection, "James, he _wanted_ you to come back."

The smoke was clearing and people al around them were fighting each other because no one knew who to trust. It was just like before the war, when friends were turned on friends. The Minister advanced on James and Lily hiding behind a pew together, eyes gleaming wickedly.

James had to end the fighting before someone died.

"Enough!"

James stood up, holding Voldemort's diary in the air. His loud call was enough to stop everyone from fighting. A few spare spells hit against pews and the walls but silence fell. Some civilians were huddled behind benches and a woman with a writing pad was taking in everything like she was at a quidditch match. James spotted his old teacher McGonagall holding her wand out as if she had been fighting and Sirius had Remus' help cornering the Auror named Lana.

McAdams, wand pointed in the air at Lily on the floor by James' feet, spotted the diary in James' hand and his eyes turned wolfish.

"Hand it over Potter." sparks flew out from McAdams' wand, "Hand it over or I'll make sure to send Professor Evans on a one way trip to Azkaban for aiding and abiding."

"What the _Hell_ is going on?" Alice Longbottom spoke up from where she was standing over the body of one of her coworkers, "Potter! You're supposed to be undercover! What the Hell is going on?"

"Alice!" James spotted his old friend from the Order with a grin, "I was hoping you'd be here! The Phoenix is flying"

Alice looked as if James would be the reason she'd quit her job and move to an island off the coast of France. Her expression was irritated as she looked around the church. Clearly, she and James were the only Order members there who understood the term. It meant that they weren't alone, that they were a team. Something flickered across Alice's face.

"I'm the only one here with authorization to arrest this man," Alice pushed back her hair angrily and barked, "No one is leaving this church until I get some answers!"

"You cannot keep me here," The Minister snapped at Alice who looked as if she wanted nothing more than to knock out the Minister with her own sparking wand, "I'm the Minister of Magic!"

"And I'm your Senior Auror." Alice snapped back, "And seeing as you told me and my colleagues that James Potter was a Death Eater and tried to kill you in Egypt raises a lot of questions since he went underground on my orders after someone tried to kill _him_."

The Minister bristled, "You can't be suggesting that I—"

"Of course she is suggesting you tried to kill me you half-brained git!" James exclaimed, "You tried to kill me because I was investigating the Pettigrew and Black case. A case that _you_ specifically wanted closed because it threatened your plan to bring back Voldemort!"

Lily gasped at James' feet and James felt her hand grip his cloak from behind. Anyone left standing during the fight that had broken out now looked unsure. Alice slowly moved forward to try and control the developing unease.

"How dare you!" The Minister looked around the room, "How dare all of you! The only person in this room who wanted to bring back Voldemort was Potter!"

"Yeah," James said indignantly, "Because I'd really want to bring back the lunatic who didn't want me to marry the love of my life."

"Well," the Minister sneered at Lily on the floor, "What a pity she doesn't love you back, seeing as she is so ready to marry another."

James felt like he'd been shot in the stomach, the one thing bothering him most coming into light with McAdams' words. James couldn't help but let his eyes flutter to where Lily was struggling to get up due to the train on her wedding gown. Giving up other dress, Lily pointed her wand at the Minister and stared lethally at him. Surrounded by a sea of ivory and gold fabric stained red from her own blood, Lily was dressed in sheer fury.

"Might I remind you Minister, you're the one who insisted James wouldn't ever come back, not even for me." Lily hissed, "Well, I proved you wrong McAdams because he's standing in front of both of us. Alive."

"He didn't come back for you, stupid girl." the Minister now glared down at Lily, "He came back to try and put me in Azkaban for _his_ crimes."

Hanna appeared, eyes blazing, "Forgive me, Minister, but you really ought to keep your thoughts to yourself."

The Minister brushed Hanna aside but Hanna's cool eyes stayed trained on the Minister's face. James knew then that Hanna was reading his mind, scraping through the thoughts and memories. Hanna was the key that could bring the Minister down for good.

James closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could: _Hanna, distract him._

Alice Longbottom called for order and James' eyes popped back open, "Oi! This entire room is under investigation. No one left is leaving."

James continued holding up the diary, and ignoring Alice, "Didn't you tell me you wanted this?"

"What are you talking about Potter?" the Minister was spitting mad, face bright red.

"Go on," James grinned, motioning with the diary at the Minister, "Maybe if you tell the truth about your true intentions, Alice'll be kind enough give you a cell with a view."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." the Minister drew himself up tall, "You're the only criminal here."

"How so?"

"You're the one who murdered Regulus Black." the Minister's eyes zeroed in on James.

"James wouldn't have dared killed my little brother." Sirius spoke up from the altar where he stood beside Fabian Prewett nursing a bloodied nose, "James would never kill anyone innocent."

"Potter has been fooling you all!" The Minister scrambled, "He's a liar and a cheat! He wanted to use that book in his hands to bring Voldemort back! He was looking for horcrux's when I ran into him in Egypt!"

"Impossible." Alice looked downright mad, "James Potter was under orders that you shouldn't have known."

"She's right." Hanna had come forward, a brave look on her face as she stared down the Minister, "You were scared because James was the only Auror left who knew the truth about Voldemort's soul splitting."

"How dare you." the Minister rose at Hanna wickedly, "You've clearly been working with Potter."

"I just met him actually," Hanna said, "Dead man showed up on my door asking for some help in taking down a lying politician. I couldn't say no and now that I've met you I can't wait to watch them cart you away for Azkaban."

"Do you think I'm scared of a girl that wears cats on her scarf?" The Minister laughed darkly.

"You should be scared."

"You're pathetic."

"Hanna." James casually clucked his tongue, "Don't let him get inside your head, I love your cat scarf."

"It's a little too late for him to get to me when I've seen inside his head." Hanna replied, her eyes dark as they stared down the confused Minister, "Who knew a man could be such a coward."

"Oh yeah, she's mad." James leaned against the pew and grinned at McAdams, "if I were you I'd turn myself over to the Aurors now McAdams."

"She'll join you in Azkaban, Potter."

"Eh," James sucked in a breath and shrugged, "Doubtful."

"You'll be the one in Azkaban once I tell everyone," Hanna fed off James' casually energy and simply placed her hand on her hip as McAdams glanced between the bantering pair.

"Tell them what?" McAdams growled.

"Well, when I tell the Aurors about how you murdered Regulus Black before he could tell them about you."

"Murdered?" Sirius sounded wrecked from the altar at the mention of his younger brother, murdered in cold blood, "It was _you_?"

McAdams shook his head, "I don't have any idea what she's-"

"That's not all." Hanna stood up straighter as more wands were pointed at the Minister in disbelief, "Tell everyone how you dug up James' grave because you found him in Egypt working on Black's dropped case to bring you down. Tell them how you tried to frame James for murder out of fear of your own past. Tell them how you twisted James into a Death Eater to break his reputation before he could break yours. Tell them how you sent your head Auror on a special mission, only so you could kill him too because you found out he had dug up information from old hog wart's records that _you_ wanted to stay hidden."

James felt his face drain in doubt. James only knew one senior Auror directly helping with the Pettigrew and Black case. An Auror so strong and capable James had never imagined he'd hear that someone else had bested him.

"Kingsley?" James croaked, " _No_."

"You said Kingsley was killed by Death Eaters!" Alice, who had always loved Kingsley like a father, sobbed as she aimed her wand at the Minister, "But _you_ killed him! You're the spy! You've been in league with Voldemort sympathizers this whole time!"

Alice whipped her wand in a large arc to the left but McAdams blocked her attack preemptively with a large fire strike that swallowed the room in reds and made Alice fly back into the piano that had played for a wedding only minutes before. Alice fell limp on the ground, blood pouring out from a large gash across her skull. A few of Alice's fellow Aurors raced to help her while some of them stayed behind with their wands pointed at McAdams in horror.

Hanna hadn't finished spilling out McAdams' secrets, "You thought you had all this planned out so that no one would know. You stole James' case files and found out that there was one more horcrux—a diary thought to be in Egypt."

"So what?" Horace wiped his brow, "No one can prove any of this."

"One person can." James snarled.

"Who?"

Hanna raised a brow, "Tell everyone in this room about the day Horace Slughorn gave his favorite student a diary just like the one James is holding."

McAdams coughed, "What?"

"Tell everyone how _you_ realized Voldemort's last horcrux was the diary James is holding because you were there the day Horace Slughorn gave it to Tom Riddle as a gift."

"How do you know that name?" McAdams stared at Hanna in fear, "Only the greatest of witches and wizards knew his real name…"

"I'm the greatest of them all." Hanna cocked her head.

"What's your name?"

"Hanna Mathis."

"I don't remember you." The Minister sneered.

"That's fine," Hanna replied with a flick of her wand that made McAdams freeze, "Your brain remembers enough for the both of us."

James pushed his glass up his nose and said in response to mcAdams' puzzled look, "Hanna is a Legilimens."

"You—I—" Minister McAdams looked around at all the wands pointing at him, "You're lying."

"We'll let the Wizengamot determine whether we're lying or not." James said with a shrug, "Hand over your wand McAdams or I'll remove it myself."

McAdams looked around and realized he was cornered and no longer had the trust of anyone in the room. Wands were ached, aimed to strike without mercy.

Hanna tried to warn them but it was too late.

By the time the Minister aimed his wand and blasted out with extreme force, anyone within five feet was blown back. The force from McAdams' wand blasted everyone behind the Minister off their feet and bodies stirred on the floor as James launched a disarming spell at McAdams before he could disapperate. McAdams' wand was knocked to the floor and in retaliation McAdams grabbed James by his hair and yanked, forcing James to his hands and knees on the ground. McAdams' boot contacted with James' face next, digging James' cheek into the cold hard ground as McAdams grabbed his fallen wand.

"Don't you dare touch him, you bastard!"

Lily slashed her wand through the air and stained glass broke out of it's casing, falling over the Minister who used the shards to hurl in their direction viciously. James threw up a shield and the glass turned to dust while Hanna barricaded the church door with the help of Remus and Sirius.

"It's over McAdams!" James snarled as they backed the Minster into the corner, "Accept your fate."

Lily stepped forward and yanked McAdams' wand from his fingers, green eyes flashing.

"Mudblood bitch." the Minister spat, his nose wrinkled.

Then, as perfectly vivacious as she'd always been, Lily broke his wand in half with a satisfying smirk.

"That's for trying to kill James." Lily hissed letting the wand pieces fall to the floor before raising her hand and slapping the Minister across the face, "And that's for everything else."

McAdams tried to lunge forward and James wen to restrain McAdams but someone beat him too it. Fabian had lurched across the aisles and his fist came into contact with the Minister's face so hard that James heard a sickening crunch. The Minister fell to the floor as Fabian stared down at the old man with a contented look as he rubbed his knuckles.

"Well," a voice called suddenly from the back of the church, "it seems we arrived a minute too late."

James looked around over his shoulder to find Dumbledore walking into the church with Frank Longbottom and several other members of the Order of the Pheonix. James waved at them with a smile.

"Impeccable timing as always Professor Dumbledore!" James said.

Dumbledore's blue eyes sparkled as Order members and Aurors began to mix together in the wreckage of the church. Marlene McKinnon, who had been playing secretary for McAdams, was directly next to Dumbledore. She was gazing around at the destroyed church with wide blue eyes.

"This'll be a publicity nightmare." she joked, "In fact I think that's Rita Skeeter passed on out a pew near the front, "Bloody Hell."

"Marlene McKinnon?" Lily said in shock, coming around James to stare at the blue eyed witch, "Marley?"

Marlene turned her gaze to Lily standing there in a wedding dress and for a moment nothing registered and then "Lily Evans!" Marlene cried excitedly.

The two girls hugged each other, Lily was practically in tears. James couldn't help the smile on his face as Lily head onto her friend, who she clearly hadn't seen or heard from in years. Marlene had gone to school with them and had been relatively close to Lily. James had always known where Marlene was but Lily had assumed Marlene moved to America after she graduated Hogwarts a year ahead of them.

"Where have you been?" Lily asked, "I thought you were in America!"

"You know," Marlene half laughed as she pulled back from Lily's hug, "I've just spent the last five years playing undercover secretary to fucking awful Minister McAdams."

Lily said weakly, "That explains your hair change."

"I was undercover as May McKinnon," Marlene told Lily with a flip of her blonde locks, "I couldn't have contact with anyone from school that would seem suspicious and you were practically married to James."

"Practically." James indignantly rejected the term.

"Who knocked out McAdams?" Dumbledore asked from where he knelt beside a bloody McAdams.

"I'll personally marry whoever fucked him up." Marlene said from beside Lily, "I've been wanting to deck him since he told me my only job was to sit still and look pretty."

"Fabian knocked him out." Lily said, motioning to the man int he tux who looked sick from all the fighting.

Marlene waggled her eyebrows at Fabian. James rolled his eyes when Fabian flushed and mumbled something darkly to the ground. It was Sirius who stepped in between Marlene's suggestive eyes and Fabian's embarrassment.

"No one else is allowed to try and marry this man." Sirius said forcefully, "He's already called for."

Fabian and James both looked oddly at Sirius. James then turned his attention to Lily, feeling hurt.

"You're still going to marry him?" he couldn't hide the pain in his tone.

Lily pulled a face, "I was never going to marry him."

" _What_?"

Sirius explained for everyone, "Evans is right, we planned this whole thing to get James' arse to rise up from the dead."

"This wedding wasn't real?" James came to terms with the story Sirius weaved, "It was fake?"

Lily smiled at him softly, "This isn't a real wedding—I mean we acted like it was—but the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with is you."

James supposed his day couldn't get better, not with the way Lily was staring at him as if he'd put the damn stars in the sky. He was about to kiss her until she couldn't stand (his favorite pastime) but Marlene ruined his chance.

Marlene sighed dramatically and leaned into Lily, "This is all _so_ romantic."

"I guess." Fabian choked.

James turned his gaze to Fabian, "So," he managed to say, "You don't love Lily?"

Fabian shook his head softly, "No," he said, "She's not my type."

"Then why—" James began and Fabian cut him off awkwardly.

"Why'd I agree to marry her?" Fabian turned to Sirius next, grin wide and inviting, "To be honest, I was rather taken by her well-dressed and temperamental roommate."

Sirius looked like he'd been caught in a spotlight, "Awh _Fuck,_ Fab, you want to do this _now_?"

Sirius looked to Remus for help but the young werewolf had his arms crossed and was sniggering at Fabian's heart eyes aimed in Sirius' direction. Lily looked rather like Christmas had come early. James felt like he was missing something obvious and then it struck him. Fabian fancied Sirius.

"Yes, now." Fabian grabbed Sirius by the arm and pressed a telling kiss to Sirius' mouth before pulling away and stating firmly, "You're exactly my type."

"You agreed because you wanted to flirt with my wedding planner?" Lily exclaimed loudly, playfully, eyes joyful.

Everyone laughed at Lily's outburst and a steady flush grew across both boys' cheekbones. Even better was when Lily came closer and wrapped her arms around his forearm, leaning her head against him like she used to do when they were kids. James looked down at her, adoration pouring out from his very soul. He kissed her forehead and when he looked up he realized everyone was staring at them.

Fabian considered James and Lily, "She's an amazing girl, James, she's just not the right person for me."

James had never felt more relieved about someone being gay than Fabian Prewett. He stuck out his hand and Fabian shook it heartily.

"Thanks Prewett." they both grinned before James added, "Sorry to crash your wedding."

"This'll be a wedding no one will forget, especially my family," Fabian sighed as he glanced around at the damage, "And even harder to explain to my publicist."

"When your done speaking to the press," Sirius slapped Fabian's back with a grin, "I'll meet you when your out of your tux at the back door."

James looked around too. There were injured people everywhere and most people who had been guests disappeared long before the real fight started. Aurors and Order members alike were working together to wake up the people passed out underneath pews and on top of each other. Frank Longbottom was sitting on a broken pew with his wife, tucking her hair behind her ear as he healed the large gash on her head from the piano. Dumbledore was speaking with some of the aurors who were arresting McAdams. James spotted Hanna at the altar, her hand on the confused face of a man who looked similar to Fabian. They acted as if they knew each other.

"I'll be right back," James told Lily who shook her head when he tried to pull away.

"Where you go I go," she stated firmly, "I lost you once, I refuse to lose you again."

James guided Lily over to the altar. Hanna was helping up the man she'd been talking too. The man stood up and rocked enough that Hanna grabbed his waist and Lily reached out a hand to steady him by his shoulder.

"Are you alright Gideon?" Lily asked the man carefully.

James knew why he'd recognized the boy now. Gideon Prewett was Fabian's twin brother. His hair as darker than Fabian's and he came with a lot more muscle and threat in his strong jaw. Hanna was looking up at Gideon like he was someone she hadn't spoken to in years. She looked at Gideon the same way that Fabian had looked at Sirius-hopefully. He smiled knowingly at her and when she heard his suggestive thoughts she shot him a firm glare.

"Leave it Potter."

Gideon looked down at Hanna, her voice sort of waking him up, "What are you doing here Mathis?"

"She was helping me." James said fondly of the witch, "How do you two know each other?"

Hanna flushed in her cheeks, "We knew each other in school. Slug Club."

Gideon nodded before looking at Lily and noticing her hand was connected to James' forearm, "Where's my brother?"

"I think," Lily said slowly, "You ought to go talk with your brother."

Hanna helped Gideon down from the altar and James watched them go then he looked down at Lily. Before he could say anything to her though, they were ambushed by a women in a red suit with a red quill.

"Can I get a quote Professor Evans?" the woman gushed, "Were you always planning on running away with your Death Eater boyfriend this entire time? Why did you accept Fabian Prewett's proposal if you knew Potter was alive? Is there a reason your dress is covered in blood?"

"Yeah," Lily said darkly, "My qoute is _leave me the fuck alone, Skeeter_."

"Well I never!" Rita Skeeter exclaimed, glaring dagger at Lily as she laughed into James' arm sleepily.

The woman from the daily prophet was trying to get quotes from everyone as they all worked together to clean up the church, even after Lily threatened to turn her into a flea. Gideon Prewett was sitting on a broken pew hours after the incident trying to wrap his head around the story his brother told him. Remus put his skills as an expert building repairer to use and started to try and fix the church, which looked as if it had gone through a war.

Finally, when the last chair had been re-set and the last private attender had been interviewed by the Auror department, James found himself alone with Lily outside of the church. She had her arms wrapped around herself as they stared at each other. The gash on her arm had long since stopped bleeding but her white dress was ruined from the scarlet blood that stained it. She was guarded and he knew the last time they'd spoken was burned in the back of her mind.

"You look beautiful."

He finally spoke and her green eyes pierced through him at his simplistic words. A single light from the top of the church shone down on them in the night. Lily's eyes were shining with tears and James felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

"Is it too late to apologize?" he wondered out loud and she looked taken aback.

"For what?"

"For when your birthday passed and I didn't show." he took a step forward and grew confident when she didn't step back, "For not writing. For letting you think I really _was_ dead. For not marrying you when I had the chance."

Lily frowned deeper, lines showing up on her forehead, "James, I'm not mad at you."

James blinked slowly, " _You_ —you aren't?"

"No."

Without another word she stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around him. Lily pressed her lips to his for the first time in over a year and it was like the storm raging around them finally stopped. A stillness settled over James as he kissed her back. Someone called from across the field but James ignored their call as he melted into Lily, pressing his fingers into her cheeks so she couldn't leave him either. Her hands were shaking as they traveled through his hair, across his jaw, and down his chest. Someone called his name again, this time in warning.

"Stay here," she whispered against his lips when he made a motion to stop, "I don't want to share."

James chuckled against her insistent bite on his upper lip but they were soon forced apart by two strong hands. Alice Longbottom glared at them both equally.

"I need James to come with me, Lily."

"I've been saying that for months." Lily tried to lean back into James, "let me live, Alice."

"Lily this case isn't over until the Wizengamot votes." Alice said with a pointed glare at James for being so unprofessional.

"But we caught the bad guy." Lily complained, "McAdams is in Auror custody."

"McAdams might be in custody but until we interview James and the mind reader he brought with him—James has to come to stay under Ministry jurisdiction. Remember, half of the Ministry thinks James is a Death Eater still."

James saw the look of fear cross Lily face and he quickly pacified her, "This won't last long, not since I have Hanna. I'll be home before you know it."

Lily swallowed but nodded tersely as she leaned up and rewrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his hastily.

"I love you," he murmured when she pulled away ever so slightly, "I'm sorry it's been rough waiting but the wait is almost over."

"I would've waited forever if the Minister hadn't been lurking in the shadows, keeping us apart."

"Thank you for believing in me." James tucked her hair behind her ear lovingly, "seems like there's always someone who disapproves."

"The stakes were high," she quirked her head, "But I didn't care."

"No?"

"No," she said firmly, "Because now you're all mine."

James pressed a hard kiss to her forehead and she smiled against his hold as Alice tapped her foot, tired of waiting on them.

"We're getting married." he said hurriedly as she hugged him once more, "As soon as this blasted case is released, I'm marrying you."

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Let's go, Potter!" Alice snapped, "Or I'll stun the both of you!"

James sent Lily a playful grin before walking away. He only turned back, daring face Alice's further wrath, when Lily called his name one more time.

"Hey, James?"

"Lily?"

"I'm so glad you were around when they said, 's _peak now'_."


	8. Long Live (That Look On Your Face)

**Epilogue: Long Live (That Look On Your Face)**

The case couldn't end fast enough.

James sat through two weeks of back and forth bantering in the court rooms below the Ministry. The current acting Minister of Magic, Fudge, was an idiot and couldn't keep up with the half backwards plans and schemes James used to corner McAdams. McAdams was ruthless to the end, trying to continue and frame James even with Hanna's proven mind reading capabilities. James only paid attention to the trials when he was forced to say his part.

He spent most of the time thinking about Lily and the promises hidden in their last kiss.

At the final trial where McAdams was sentenced to life in Azkaban for attempted treason, the only thing James could think about was Lily waiting outside among the hundreds of people waiting to hear the outcomes of the trials. He couldn't help it, especially since she'd written letters for him that Alice Longbottom would drop off in secret. In her last letter she swore she'd be standing outside the courtrooms waiting for James in her best dress that he couldn't wait to take off when they were _finally_ alone.

More than once, Hanna, who always sat next to him in trials groaned and begged him to keep his thoughts to himself. He normally relied back to keep her mind to herself and she'd laugh similarly to the way she was laughing at him now as he pushed through some of the wizarding council to make the next elevator.

"Slow down James!" she exclaimed, holding onto his robes as they barely made it into their elevator, "She's not going anywhere."

"You haven't been locked up in the Ministry for two weeks." James reminded Hanna with a moan, "You've had freedom."

"Yeah well," Hanna waved her hand flippantly, "It helps that the Minister of Magic hadn't tried to frame _me_ as a Death Eater when I faked my death."

James mocked her and she laughed again, both of them high off the final trial. Once outside the courtrooms they were pounded by reporters flocking to get a word from the witches and wizards coming out of the elevator. James pushed past them all, his eyes scanning the faces and bodies for the woman he loved. He spotted Lily waving next to Sirius, Remus, and the Prewett brothers. She was wearing a long black sundress that left little to the imagination.

Hanna, who was reading his mind, reminded him before raced off, "Sirius has the ring in his pocket."

He'd been forcing smiles for the last two weeks but the smile and laugh that flew from his mouth when she raced into his arms was not fake. He twirled Lily in the air, her enchanted laugh echoing off the reporters and people watching as James lowered her back to the ground. Lily licked her lips and tossed her arms around around his neck playfully. They kissed quickly, both of them laying it on as thick as a couple of teenagers.

When he pulled back to stare at her, he thought she was glowing.

"Hi." her green eyes shining with enthusiasm.

James held out a hand to Sirius who was grinning at the couple from beside Fabian, "Sirius?"

"I gave to to Remus because Fabian kept stealing it to clean it up." Sirius exclaimed and Fabian stuck up a finger in his boyfriends direction.

"I've got it right here."

Remus reached inside his pocket and pulled out a velvet covered box that he handed to James. Lily's hands flip up and back to cover her mouth as she stared at the box in James' hands like she hadn't know it was coming. James couldn't help laughing to himself as he got down on one knee. Hanna was giggling into her hand at Gideon's side, looking giddy from the proposal.

"Evans."

"James." Lily half laughed, half cried.

"I've wanted to marry you since they day I met you."

"Liar."

"I'm trying to be romantic." he said loudly as camera flashes went off and people laughed along with Lily, "And you're ruining it."

"Sorry." she wiped her eyes, her mascara was smearing but James still thought she looked beautiful.

"Lily Evans," James repeated, "You are one half my best friend and one half the love of my life. I know I've done a shite job of proving it in the last few years but I won't ever let you suffer from a broken heart or let you down ever again. I won't fake my own death to bring down the Minister of Magic. I won't miss a single birthday ever again."

Lily was shaking her head but her smile was wide and water as James heard up the ring.

"It's taken me this long baby but, I'm hoping you'll say yes. Marry me?"

"Yes." she laughed through her tears, "Yes, of course I will."

And it was like slow motion, as he placed the golden ring on her outstretched finger while everyone cheered and Lily sobbed into his chest as he hugged her. James kissed her deeply and didn't stop kissing her until the new Minister stopped by to congratulate them and they both realized they weren't alone yet. It took them a while to have a moment alone, period. The minute Lily said yes to James' proposal, Sirius and Fabian began co-planning a real wedding in the church at Godric's Hollow.

Three weeks later, Lily stood in front of James at an alter covered in white and gold painted lilies. It was flawless, as weddings go, especially since no one came crashing through the doors to kill or injure anyone else. The invitations had been private so only their closest friends and family attended. Hanna, Marlene, and Alice stood next to Lily in beautiful grey bridesmaids gowns. James had Sirius, Fabian, and Remus all lined up behind him in their best dress robes. The vows were quick and simple, promising an everlasting love even beyond life.

James' eyes were trapped on Lily the entire wedding. She looked like something out of a fairytale in her form fitting lace dress. The dress itself was remade from the fabric salvaged from the fake wedding James had crashed. Fabian had his friend, a fashion designer, make it as a wedding gift. Lily had forgone a veil and instead, white and purple flowers were braided intricately into her red hair. Lanterns floated around them, sparkling as they professed their love for each other over and over again.

Lily stared up at James with a look of pure joy on her face that James hoped lived longer than that night.

James made sure to keep Lily in his arms or at his side the whole night (not that she let him wander far either). They rocked gently to their first dance and James twirled Lily around the dance floor like a maniac when her favorite song came floating through the garden behind the church. Sirius made them both cry with laughter during his best man's speech. Marlene, Alice, and Hanna all presented the couple with a lovely gift for a holiday at a seaside cottage. It was the wedding Lily wanted and deserved.

Long after the toasts and the cake cutting, when they were finally alone in James' old family cottage, James pressed a kiss to every inch of Lily. They held onto each other as the candles flickered the room in a golden light that seemed to be tattooed onto their bare skin.

"Will you promise me something?" Lily asked as they laid together listening to the sound of their own hearts beating.

"Anything." he pressed his lips to her temple.

"Will you stand by me forever?"

"I married you for a reason, Mrs. Potter" he ran his fingers down her spine as he nipped at her lip playfully.

She nudged his nose with her own, "And God forbid we're forced into another goodbye?"

"I won't ever let that happen," he pulled her closer under the sheets, "It's you and me now, until the very end."

* * *

 **And that's that! I hope you all enjoyed my Taylor Swift "Speak Now" inspired fic! To the person who requested this, I hope it's everything you hoped for and more. Keep watching my tumblr (petalsandfishes) for updates about new stories and one shots in the future.**

 **All my love,**

 **Petals**


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